I'll Be Here
by ziesspot
Summary: Santana Lopez is in the closet. Literally... with her best friend in New York. Brittany Pierce is an outgoing dance choreographer working hard in L.A. When Santana is sent by her mother to a boot-camp of her choice, she never expected to meet the girl who will forever change her life. For better or for worse, Santana is unsure. Slight Quinntana. Brittana is endgame.
1. LA - NY

AN: Let me know what you think.

* * *

 **Brittany POV**

"5-6-7-8!"

Ed Sheeran is playing in the background as Brittany Pierce, claps her hands to the beat while her class grooves to the music.

"Keep your head up! Bend those knees! Feel the music. Now hit this beat! Boom shhhh-ka!" The 18 members of her dance class all hit a pose and she rushes to turn off the music.

"Great job today, everybody! We have a month until the recital, so we gotta work work work! See you all tomorrow!"

Brittany Pierce is a college dance teacher and choreographer for a large L.A. studio. Graduating with a degree in creative and performing arts as well as dance production, Brittany loves what she does. She's passionate and she loves teaching. She loves teaching kids and she likes teaching adults. Sometimes, the adults can give her a hard time because she looks young. She gets the few odd people walking into her class, look at her and ask her if she's the professional or if someone else was coming in to teach. But she has gotten used to it so usually she just laughs it off, although sometimes they make her feel like she's not qualified or experienced enough to choreograph such large productions. She tries see the positive in everything and just brushes it off.

Her phone buzzes and she pulls it out of her work out bag.

"Hey, you!"

" _I'm outside!"_

"Be out in 2 minutes!"

Packing up her things, she tucks her phone into her back pocket and locks up the studio. She walks down the stairs and waves goodbye to the receptionist and walks to the parking lot at the back of the studio.

She sees the black car and hops in.

"Hi!" She chirps.

"Ready for lunch?"

"Always!"

* * *

 **Santana POV**

"Shit! What was that?" Santana whispers into the lips of the girl that's leaning against her body with one hand cupping her right breast on top of her shirt.

"I'm sure it was nothing," the girl pants out and crashes their lips together again.

Fingers of the girl's left hand rake through her dark raven locks while her right hand is squeezing her luscious tit. The girl slowly slides her hand downward and lets it sit still on Santana's abs.

Their lips are colliding together and tongues are slipping through each others.

The girl's hand begins to slide under Santana's shirt when...

"Santana? Are you home?"

"Fuck!" Santana whispers and pushes the girl off of her. Her best friend to be exact.

"Yeah, mom! I'm in my room, studying! Be right down!"

Santana and her friend fix their shirts and their hair and make their way down the stairs.

"Hi dear, will you be staying for dinner tonight?"

Santana interrupts the conversation her mother is trying to have with her best friend, "Nope, we're going out, but I'll pick dinner up for you afterwards."

"Okay, but don't be too late! Brooklyn isn't safe when it gets too dark out, you know that."

"Uh huh, okay, bye, Mom!"

She slams the door.

Santana Lopez is in college, and it seems like she will always be in college. She hates her courses and she hates school but her mom is pushing her to graduate with some sort of degree. She also hates her mom. Well, she doesn't hate-hate her mom, she just hates the fact that she knows her mom will never accept her for enjoying the lips of her best friend. Sometimes she feels like even her best friend will never fully accept the fact that they make out, all the time. And because of this, she also enjoys a cigarette and a glass of vodka on ice once in a while.


	2. Best Friends

AN: Thanks for following this story and I hope more people start reading so I have more motivation to keep going. I promise the chapters will get longer as the story develops. Just stick with me. For all of you that are upset at certain 'friendships'... I hate Quinntana as much as most Brittana fans. I literally cringe when I see or hear the word Quinntana, but yet, here I am, suffering through it just like the rest of you. Let's just see how this turns out shall we?

I own none of the Glee characters.

* * *

 **Santana POV**

 ** _Sent by Q: When does ur class end?_**

 _Sent to Q: In 20mins. I'm so fuckin bored. Kill me now._

 ** _Sent by Q: Lol. I'll take u out for ice cream if you can power through and last the 20mins._**

 _Sent to Q: No promises._

 ** _Sent by Q: See u in 20. Don't die on me. xoxo_**

Santana slips her phone into her pocket and leans back in her chair. She has no idea what her professor has been saying. In fact, she's not even sure what class this is. Is this sociology or civilization? She has absolutely no clue. She looks over at the spine of the book sitting on the desk of the girl next to her – _Accounting._

' _Oops'_ she laughs to herself and just continues to day dream about nothing in particular until the sound of books closing and back packs zipping snaps her out of her daze. She gets up from her seat and grabs her backpack, which has her brand new accounting book inside. She knows she should feel guilty for not paying attention in class considering how expensive college is, but nothing interests her. She knows her mother, well, actually, her father is footing the bill for her to get an education but she couldn't care less. She hates her father. Her mother was a homemaker when her father, a lawyer, bailed on them with his assistant and moved out with her after dropping two million dollars as an apology into his now ex-wife's account when they split; Santana was 12. Santana's father tries to get in contact with her and sends her monetary gifts on special occasions, but usually she just takes the money – rarely with much more than a "thanks" – and goes out with her friends. Santana doesn't have many friends. She has maybe a handful of friends, okay maybe only two close friends. She's not the most social girl on the block and considering the fact that her mom constantly wants her at home, it's hard for her to go out and meet new people. Besides, she likes to think of herself as an independent bitch that doesn't need anyone anyway. She's not lonely. Not at all.

Santana's mother lives off her alimony but hardly ever leaves the house unless it is to get her hair or nails done, or go shopping for a new purse or shoes. They constantly argue but Santana always ends up feeling guilty. She feels sorry for her mom because she's alone and her father is a douchebag. Not to mention the fact that her mom constantly reminds her that if Santana isn't caring for her then she might as well not exist. Santana hates these guilt trips because they work.

* * *

"Oh God, this is so good!" Santana breathes out after taking a bite of her cherry chocolate gelato.

Quinn smiles and takes a spoonful. "It's alright, mine is better."

"I hate pistachio," Santana pretends to shudder and takes another scoop of gelato out of her cup.

Quinn laughs, "So, what are your plans for today?"

Santana shrugs, "Probably just go home."

"Wanna come over?" Quinn asks and Santana looks up from her cup of cherry chocolate to read Quinn's face to see what she really means.

Hazel eyes twinkle and pink lips curl up into a smirk.

"Aren't your parents home?"

Quinn shakes her head, "Nah, they're going to some fundraising gala all night. They won't be back until one or two in the morning."

"Well, I can't go home _that_ late, but sure, I'll come over for a bit."

Santana makes a call to her mom to tell her she will be home late. Her mom, of course is upset that Santana isn't going home right away, but at 21, she really doesn't want to be spending so much time at home anyway.

Both Santana and Quinn drop their bags at the door of Quinn's penthouse and quickly make their way to the kitchen to grab some snacks and settle in front of the T.V. Not 45 minutes later, Quinn is on top of Santana and they're making out. Quinn's thigh is between Santana's and their lips are locked tight. Quinn's fingers are entwined in Santana's hair and her other hand is sliding from her shoulder down her side to the waistband of Santana's pants. Santana slowly grabs Quinn's wrist and pulls her hand back up and places it on her boob instead, where Quinn begins to massage away. Santana's wraps one arm around Quinn's neck and the other one is stroking up and down her back.

They hear voices coming from outside the door and they jump from their spot, Santana almost throwing Quinn to the ground. They quickly straighten up and Quinn moves over to the end of the couch and they pretend to be watching _Scrubs_ on TV. At least Santana thinks its _Scrubs_.

"Mom! Dad! You're home early," Quinn says and stands up to greet her parents.

"Oh dear, the event was a bore. We just shook the people's hands and made small talk while your dad talked to the different associates. We did our part and just had to get out of there," Quinn's mom says, taking in an exhausted breath.

Santana turns around with the most fake-genuine smile on her face, "Mr., Mrs. Fabray. Hello."

"Santana dear, how lovely to see you. Will you be staying for supper?"

Santana looks at the time, "No, actually I should be going home now anyway. My mom is expecting me."

"Well, tell her we say hello then. Have a good evening, Santana."

"Same to you." Santana stands up and Quinn walks her to the door. "1 AM my ass," Santana shakes her head and whispers.

"I'm sorry!" Quinn chuckles. "I seriously didn't think they would be home so early. Maybe I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Sure, maybe," Santana says and reaches for the handle of the door.

Quinn goes in for a tight hug, surprising Santana. They say their goodbyes and Santana takes a cab home.

When she reaches the front porch of her townhouse, she dives into her backpack and takes out her pack of cigarettes. She drops her backpack down and circles around to the corner of her house. She lights the cigarette and takes in a long drag, feeling the soothing effects hit her as soon as she inhales. She exhales a long slow stream and leans back against the house and slides down until her butt is almost touching the ground. She closes her eyes and considers the events that happened today.

When she's finished, she puts the cigarette out in a little can half full of rain water and tucks it behind a pipe. She throws a piece of gum into her mouth and walks back to the front. She unlocks the door and as usual, sees her mom sitting in front of the TV petting her little Pomeranian. She sighs, "Hey mom."

* * *

 **Brittany POV**

 ** _Sent by Sam: What are your plans after work?_**

 _Sent to Sam: Not much. Why? What's up?_

 ** _Sent by Sam: Dinner?_**

 _Sent to Sam: Yeah! Sure! Sounds good._

 ** _Sent by Sam: Pick you up at 8?_**

 _Sent to Sam: It's a date!_

 ** _Sent by Sam: (heart emoji)_**

Brittany places her phone back into her backpack. In a small dance studio, Brittany is alone with the music blaring and a pencil in her hand. A pad of paper sits on top of a large speaker and her laptop is on a small table against the wall. Brittany looks at herself in the mirror again, repeatedly going over some choreography she just put together. She's been here for the last 3 hours trying to figure out why it doesn't look right. She figures she will give it another hour before she gives up and goes home.

Both of Brittany's parents are doctors and her younger sister is an honour roll student. Brittany is a dancer. Her parents are proud of her and her sister looks up to her but they all know that Brittany isn't the most intelligent one of the bunch. Her grades were never good and one time her sister had to help her with a makeup history exam. She once overheard her sister's friends ask why her older sister is so stupid. She walked away trying not to let the words of ninth graders affect her. She went down to the basement, locked the door, and blasted some music; letting her body take over her mind and comfort her. That day, she danced for hours, only stopping when her dad knocked on the door to call her up for dinner.

Sometimes, Brittany gets lost in thought. Usually, it's a song playing in her head and she's trying to figure out the perfect choreography for it. Sometimes she likes to daydream about being a professional dancer instead of a choreographer, possibly touring with Justin Timberlake or Janet Jackson or even Justin Bieber. She doesn't watch much TV, but she loves to read books. She loves to imagine the characters and see the scenes play out in her own head rather than watch a movie. Sometimes, this happens during class, and she has no idea what the teacher is talking about. Sometimes she doesn't even know what class she's in. She managed to squeak by high school, graduating with one of the lowest GPA's in her grade, but when she applied and got an interview with a prestigious dance college after her high school dance coach wrote a referral letter for her, they were blown away by her talent and knowledge in this particular art form.

People love Brittany. She's cheerful, polite, and incredibly friendly. Everyone in college loved her and everyone at work admires her. She was well liked in high school as well, but it's not to say she wasn't teased and words were not spoken behind her back about how dumb she was or how she was lucky she was cute and had a banging body. Rumors spread that she slept with her teachers to give her a passing grade, but she just laughed it off, pretending it was funny. It wasn't funny.

* * *

There's a knock on the door and Brittany hops down the stairs to open it. There, stands a taller man with pale skin like hers but with ash brown hair and green eyes. He's a good looking man. Girls like to talk to him, flirt with him, or even just stare at him, but he doesn't pay much attention to them. Sam and Brittany have been best friends since college. He was taking a class for music in the performing arts when he walked in on Brittany dancing and he couldn't take his eyes off of her. They have been best friends ever since.

"Hey! Right on time!" Brittany says as she closes the door behind her.

"Aren't I always?" Sam says as they walk together towards his car.

"That's one thing I love about you," Brittany says with a smile as she opens the door to his black Dodge Dart Rallye.

When both doors close and they buckle up their seatbelt, Sam asks, "What else do you love about me?"

"Hmm," Brittany mulls the thought over as if it were difficult to think of a reason why she loves her best friend. "Your taste in food is impeccable!"

"Hence why we are dining, yet again," Sam looks at her with a giant smile before driving off to one of his favourite Japanese restaurants. It's a pricy place but he is more than happy to foot the bill for his best friend.

After dinner, Sam takes Brittany out salsa dancing just for the heck of it and she loves it. Any chance she gets to dance makes her happy, and Sam knows this. They dance to the upbeat rhythm for an hour before Sam is too tired to continue. He drives her home and walks her to her front door.

"Hope you had fun m'lady," Sam says with a little bow.

"With you? Always." Brittany unlocks her door.

"Hey, are you forgetting something?"

Brittany turns around and Sam's arms are wide open and puppy dog eyes are looking back at her. Brittany chuckles and leans in for the hug. Sam holds onto her tightly before letting her go but not before giving her a peck on the cheek.

"You're awesome, Best! Thanks for the 'date,'" she laughs and takes a step inside the frame of the door. "Your next girlfriend is gonna be a lucky one."

Sam blushes and nods, "If she ever comes along."

"When, not if," Brittany winks. "Have a goodnight."

"Goodnight, Britt."

Brittany closes the door and washes up before going over some paperwork for the upcoming summer boot-camp she is supposed to be instructing on her own for the first time.

* * *

Comments? Concerns? Constructive criticism? Please be kind. XOXO


	3. Painful Encounters

AN: Not really getting the amount of readers I expected but I will post a few more chapters in hopes more people will follow. This story will progress slowly, but you will definitely learn more about each girl in every chapter. Hope you like it.

* * *

 **Brittany POV**

"Great job, everyone! Remember, we have dress rehearsals on Thursday and Friday so come prepared," Brittany shouts over the music. She takes a sip of water and jots down some notes on her note pad. When the room clears out she closes her laptop and draws the blinds. She shuts the door and plugs in her iPod. Brittany begins to move to the rhythm of the music again, taking down notes and doing her own drills. She's starting to really get into it when a sharp pain stops her movements completely and she freezes in place. She shuts her eyes tightly until the pain subsides and she slowly straightens her back and walks towards the speaker to turn down the volume. She takes a deep breath and decides to call it a day. She has three months left to set up her boot-camp itinerary and schedule. At the moment, she is about 70% done, but she wants to get this perfect and just knows that three months isn't very much time considering the bulk of her class availability has already been filled. She's expecting full attendance come summer time.

Brittany is lying on stomach in bed with an icepack across her lower back. Her eyes are closed as she tries to work out boot-camp drills in her head. Her phone rings.

"Hey," she answers quietly.

 _"Hi Bestie, what's new?"_

"Nothing, just going over work stuff, what's up?"

 _"Wanted to see if you were up for hanging today. I'm kind of in the bowling mood."_

Brittany sighs silently, "Not today. Sorry, I'm... I'm still pretty busy and quite tired. Rain check?"

 _"Rain check it is."_ There's a bit of silence over the phone, _"Hey, Britt, is everything okay?"_

"Huh? Oh, yup! Everything is fine," Brittany tries to sound as cheerful as possible. "Just tired."

 _"Alright then. Maybe next week when you're up for some bowling? Or maybe just a bowl... of pasta or whatever."_

Brittany chuckles at her best friend, "Absolutely. Have a good evening, Sam."

 _"You too, Britt. Take care."_

They hang up and Brittany rests her forehead on her arms and closes her eyes trying her best to relax all the muscles in her body.

* * *

The next day, Brittany is up early in the morning to put a heating pad on her back before work. She is will be working in the studio today, choreographing a dance routine for a local band. Since she knows the day will be full of dancing, she needs her body in full range of motion and if yesterday was any indication, she really needs her muscles to relax.

She keeps herself hydrated throughout the day and manages to teach half the routine in three hours without her back spazzing out on her. She decides to use the studio space for an extra hour after the band leaves to work on the boot-camp routine. Half an hour into it, she's writing some notes down and bends to pick up her water bottle off the floor when it happens again. She clenches her fist firmly around her bottle and squeezes her eyes tightly, tears seeping out from the pain. She tries to breathe through the sting and is finally able to straighten back up again. In a sudden fit of emotion, she throws her water bottle across the room and it slams against the other wall; dropping to the floor.

"Fuck!" she huffs at herself for losing her cool and rakes her fingers through her own hair. She takes in a few deep breathes and pulls herself together. After packing up her stuff up, she walks towards the other side of the room to pick up the discarded bottle and leaves the studio. Looking as cheerful as possible as she says goodbye to her colleagues, she makes her way home to finish her work with another ice pack and some muscle relaxants she usually refuses to take. She ends up falling asleep on her couch until the next morning when her phone rings.

"Hello?" She answers groggily after searching for her phone for a few seconds and her ice pack having now become a bag of warm water.

"Hi, where are you?"

"Sam? What do you mean? I'm at home," Brittany is confused and a little dizzy. Looking around she sees paper and notes sprawled out on the coffee table and the floor.

"It's Saturday, our breakfast date. This week is your turn to come over... is everything okay?"

"Oh, shit! I'm so sorry. I fell asleep and totally forgot. Sorry, sorry. I'll come over right away." She panics to sit up, feeling a bit of soreness in her back and arms from sleeping on the couch.

"No, no. It's okay. Just stay home. I'll pick up some breakfast and come over. Give me 20 minutes."

"You're the best, Sam."

"Only for you," Sam says happily and they hang up the phone.

Brittany picks up her papers and organizes them neatly on the coffee table. She then goes to the washroom to wash up and make herself somewhat presentable for Sam.

A knock on the door indicates he has arrived and she quickly turns on the coffee machine and makes her way towards the door to greet her best friend.

After a nice breakfast and casual conversation, Sam asks, "Busy night last night?"

"Yeah, I did some work in the studio then I guess I came home and crashed. I was pretty tired. I still have to finish that boot-camp thing and it's giving me a huge headache."

"You seem very stressed about that," Sam says and takes another sip of his coffee.

"I guess you can say that. I know there is going to be lots of delinquents and young adults whose parents just want to get rid of for the summer. Most of them probably don't even want to dance but is only doing it because they have to or because they want to get out of the house. It's gonna be tough to keep them interested and entertained," she sighs.

"You're a great teacher, Britt. They're going to love you, but even if they don't, you only have to put up with them for two months then you won't ever have to see them again."

"I guess you have a point," Brittany half smiles and shrugs. She yawns out and takes another sip of her lukewarm coffee.

"You look like you need more sleep. Here, why don't you go take a nap and I'll clean up," Sam says as he stands up and begins cleaning up the cups and utensils.

"No, no, I can't let you –"

"Go!" Sam cuts her off.

Brittany smiles and gets up from her chair to give Sam a big hug from behind. "You're the best, thank you."

"You know it, Bestie," Sam says with a wink. "Only because I love you."

"I love you too. Come say bye before you leave?"

Sam nods. Brittany goes into her room and changes into something more comfortable. She lies on her back and closes her eyes; falling into a gentle sleep. Brittany isn't sure when Sam comes in, but in her drowsy state she remembers two things - whether or not it's a dream, she's unsure. One, she gets kissed on the cheek. Two, she barely hears _"I love you, Britt. For reals."_ Unable to force herself to fully wake up, she ends up drifting off into a deeper dreamless sleep.

* * *

 **Santana POV**

"Fuck, Santana. I'm going to cum."

Santana lifts her leg off the boy she's straddling, pulling him out of her and watches as he finishes himself off with his hand. She passes him a wad of tissues and he takes it from her just in time before exploding into it. She watches with a heavy breath until he's finished.

He chucks the dirty tissues onto his night stand and rolls over so he's facing her. He reaches down with his hand and cups her center but she grabs his wrist and pulls it away.

"I'm good," she says.

"Are you sure? I know you didn't get to –"

"No, really. I'm good."

The boy smiles and leans in for a kiss, which Santana gladly grants him in lieu of anything else. A few minutes of kissing and he's starting to fall asleep. When he does, she finds her clothes and puts them on quietly before making her way out his dorm room and back towards the school. She texts Quinn on the way.

When Santana finally gets to school, Quinn is waiting for her in the student lounge where they immediately make eye contact. Quinn stands up and they walk towards one of the stairways no one ever uses. Hiding under the stairs, Santana crashes their lips together hastily, Quinn moaning into her mouth and tugging her in closer. Finally separating to catch their breath.

"Is everything okay?" Quinn asks as she wipes the lipstick off the bottom of Santana's lips.

"Yeah, I just... I just needed that."

Quinn smiles, "I'm glad I can be of service."

Santana breathes out a chuckle and straightens out her shirt. "Okay," Santana says. "I'm ready to go to my last class now."

Quinn laughs, "Alright. I'll walk you to class. It's on the way to the library anyway and I need to pick up some books."

They leave the hidden stairway and begin to walk down the crowded halls. "How are your classes anyway?" Santana asks.

"Law can be pretty dry," Quinn states as they round the corner. "But other than that, I'm doing pretty well."

"At least one of us is."

They both chuckle at that.

"Well, if you actually found something you liked, maybe you can do well in class too."

"Doubtful."

The girls are about 10 metres from Santana's classroom when they spot two boys holding hands and chatting by one of the bulletin boards. The shorter one leans up and kisses the other right beside his lip. They both smile and continue to look at the flyers hanging from the board.

As soon as this happens, Santana chances a look over at Quinn, catching her rolling her eyes and shaking her head.

"What?" Santana asks.

"What?" Quinn answers.

"Why did you just shake your head?" Santana questions, slowing her step.

"Oh that? It's nothing. It's just, like, why?" Quinn says nonchalantly with a shrug.

"What do you mean 'why'?" Santana comes to a full stop a few metres from her classroom.

"I just don't understand why that needs to be public."

Santana opens her mouth but no words come out. She has so much to say, but can't find the words. Instead she closes her mouth and nods, not in agreement but in accepting that her and her best friend might have something very important to talk about that could possibly lead to a full on argument. She's in no place to do it right now, so she leaves it. She bites her bottom lip and begins walking towards her classroom again.

"Should I wait for you?" Quinn asks, not fazed at all about all the emotions running through Santana's veins right now.

"No, don't worry about it. I'll probably head straight home after class anyway."

"Alright, I'll call you tonight," Quinn says and gives her best friend a hug.

Santana reluctantly hugs back with one arm. "Sure."

* * *

Again, Santana goes home that day with a cigarette in one hand and the other gripping the strap of her back pack. She walks directly to the side of the house and leans against the panels. Finishing the cigarette with one final drag, she throws the butt into the can and walks to the front of the house. She walks in to see the same thing she sees every day. Her mom is in front of the TV, but this time she's filing her nails.

"Hey, Mom," Santana says and drops her backpack onto the kitchen table.

However, today seems to be different; today her mom actually turns off the TV. _Shit_. She thinks to herself.

 _"_ Santana, I would like to have a word with you."

Santana makes her way to the living room and stands next to the couch. Her mom throws some papers onto the floor and Santana recognizes them right away. Those are her tests and essays. Almost all of them below a failing grade. Some of them barely average.

"Where did you find these?" Santana snaps and picks them up off the ground.

"Miffy found them under your bed," her mom says and lifts to dog onto her lap and continues to pet it. Before Santana can think of an excuse, her mom continues. "Santana, are you just going to waste away all my money by going to classes you're just going to fail? Are you planning to make anything out of yourself? You would think spending so much time with a brilliant kid like Quinn would at least have some sort of influence on you."

Santana has so much pent up anger she wants to release, but she doesn't. She wants to tell her mom that one, it's not her money, and two, Quinn isn't as great as she thinks she is, but she decides it's better just to keep her mouth shut. Santana turns away and is about to go to her room when her mom throws a bunch of pamphlets and booklets onto the coffee table causing a loud slamming noise and Santana to turn around.

"You're going to a boot-camp."

"What?!" Santana's eyes widen instantly. Her voice raises a few notches.

"You're going to a summer boot-camp this year so you can do something with your life, since you never take any summer classes anyway."

"I'm NOT going to a summer boot-camp."

"You're going to a summer boot-camp for two months. You can choose which ever one you want to go to, but it has to be one of these. If you don't go, I'm cutting everything you have and I'm going to charge you rent."

"You can't do that!" Santana almost screams.

"Watch me!" Her mom screams back. "I am not going to have my only daughter be a failure! If you're not going to be a doctor or an accountant or a scientist, you can at least prove yourself to be a cook or a gymnast or a swimmer or hell, even a dancer. I don't care, but I can not... I will not raise a failure! I did not have any special skills and now I'm alone, you will be too if you don't find success in anything. No man wants a failure!" There are tears in her mother's eyes and a pang of guilt hits Santana like a truck. Breathing hard, Santana picks up the pamphlets and takes another look at her mother.

"Fine," Santana scrunches the papers in her hand and stomps her way back to her room, throwing the booklets hard on her desk. Papers sliding everywhere. She slams the door and opens her closet where she reaches to the very back and pulls out a half bottle of vodka. She downs a quarter of it, squeezing the neck of the bottle so tightly that she feels as if it may shatter between her fingers. Running her fingers through her hair she takes another sip and screws the lid back on tight and throws it to the back of her closet again. She sits at her desk and shuffles through the pamphlets picking them up one by one. She's gone through half of it and nothing has interested her.

Her phone rings and it's Quinn.

Santana sighs at the memory of this afternoon and picks up. Not in the mood to confront her best friend about what happened earlier, she goes on to tell her about the lack of summer vacation she will be having. While she's talking, she's casually flipping through the pamphlets and stops on one particular one longer than the others. Subconsciously, she actually opens the pamphlet and reads through it while Quinn is telling her about her encounter with a very sexy older man she met at the library. When the conversation finally ends, they say their goodnights and hang up.

Santana closes the pamphlet in her hand and flips it over and over between her fingers. Taking another look at it before standing and getting ready for bed.

 ** _Angry? Full of energy? Need to get away? Looking for a constructive and creative way to let it all out? Dance may be your solution. Take on a 2 month boot-camp with our professional dance instructors. Fast pace music. Crumping. Hip Hop. B-boy and B-girling. Popping. Locking. Exclusively for the first time in a downtown L.A. dance studio. Call now or check out our website for a chance to become something you're proud of._**

Santana see's ' _L.A_.' and automatically thinks that this may be her 'out' this summer. Her chance to find something better. Shaking her head out of any positive thoughts, she drops the pamphlet onto the pile and throws herself into bed.

"Fuck this shit," she mumbles into her pillow and closes her eyes as sleep takes over.

* * *

Comments? Reviews? Constructive criticism? Please be kind.

Do you like the layout of this story with the two separate POVs? Let me know!


	4. New York is Far from LA

AN: Thank you for all your reviews and your patience. I'll post a few more chapters to see where my readers count is, to see if it's still worth posting. I know you're wondering "WHERE IS THE BRITTANA?" - they will meet soon. I have a few questions at the end of the story though and would appreciate if you comment to answer them or even PM me since they may not be actual "reviews" of the chapter. I value your input.

* * *

 **Santana POV**

"So? Have you decided?"

"Decided on what?" Santana asks while scrolling through her iPhone for the next song she wants to hear. One side of her headphone on her right ear, the other one tucked behind her left so she can still have a conversation.

"Decided on which boot-camp you're going to go to this summer," Quinn says, highlighting an important sentence in her law book.

"Ugh, don't even get me started on that again. It's just so stupid. Why do I have to go to a fucking boot-camp? I can either spend money to go to a boot-camp to do nothing or I can do that right here… for free!"

"I don't think that's the point, Santana. Honestly, I think your mom is right."

Santana sends her such a painfully evil glare that Quinn has to look away. So, she flips her page, focusing her eyes on the words and continues to talk, knowing Santana is listening. "You need to find something you want to do. You need to get your career going, Santana. You've spent three years in school doing absolutely nothing. I'm surprised they haven't kicked you out of college yet."

Santana rolls her eyes, "Okay, _mom!"_

Quinn drops her pen between the pages, "Seriously, Santana. Can you take this seriously for once? You were such a good student in high school. What happened?"

Santana sighs, "Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. I just… I have no motivation. Like, I honestly don't know what I'm doing or where to start. Nothing interests me."

"Maybe the boot-camp thing would be good for you. Get away from here for a little bit. Learn something new. Maybe meet some new people. Clear your mind from the hustle and bustle of college courses, and when you come back, maybe you can start fresh and take some classes you actually enjoy."

"You know what? I think you're right. I need to find my passion again; find my drive. Ground myself again. Maybe boot-camp will be helpful." Santana nods to herself, "I'm going to California!"

"Atta girl, I – wait! What?" Quinn's eyes have never been wider. "California? Santana, when I said get away from here, I meant college. I meant the city. I didn't mean the state! I didn't mean the time zone!"

Santana laughs, "I know, Quinn, but you're right. I do need to get away from this city. Everything has just been pretty shitty since high school ended and things are only getting worse. I think I need to see things from a new perspective. You know, from Los Angeles."

"Wow, I mean. If you feel like that's what you need to do, then go for it. Did you have anything in mind? What are they offering over there in the West Coast?"

Santana reaches into her bag and pulls out the one pamphlet she didn't throw out and drops it on top of Quinn's textbook.

"Dance? Santana Lopez is going to be a dancer?"

"Well, yeah. I guess so. I mean, we were cheerleaders back in high school, so I do have some rhythm."

Quinn chuckles, "Okay. _I_ was a cheerleader. You joined me for a year, called it stupid, and quit."

"I was still a cheerleader, and I was damn good at it," Santana says and sits back in her chair clasping her hands behind her head.

Quinn nods while looking through the pamphlet, "I can't lie, you were actually good at it. You were damn loud enough."

Santana slaps her on the arm and they both break out in laughter, finally being shushed by the other people trying to study in the library.

"Santana, come here right now!" Her mother yells out from the kitchen when Santana closes the door to the house.

/

Santana walks into the kitchen as sees her mom at the counter. Looking down, she sees the garbage can from her room settled next to her mom's legs. Rolling her eyes, she knows exactly what her mom is huffing about.

"What is this? I went around gathering pamphlets to fix you – fix your behaviour and this is how you show your appreciation?"

Santana puts her palms up stopping the rant. "Mom, no. It's not what it looks like. I have actually chosen where I wanted to go." She doesn't even want to question the word her mom chose to use – fix – knowing it would only lead to an argument, so she ignores it.

Her mother's eyes widen and a smile spreads over her lips, "You have? Which one?" Her mother rounds the counter to stand in front of Santana with enthusiasm.

Sighing in relief, Santana digs into her backpack and pulls out the little booklet. "Dance!"

Her mom picks it up and looks at it, flipping it around to look at the location. "L.A?"

"Mhm," Santana hums and goes to the cabinet to grab herself a glass of water.

"Isn't that a bit far?"

"Hey! You're the one that gave me a bunch to choose from and that was one of them. So, I choose that one," she says with confidence.

Her mom looks down and nods her head, "Yeah, I suppose you're right. What am I going to do without my little girl at home though?"

"Mom, I'm not your little girl anymore. I'm 21."

"I know, but you're still my baby."

Internally groaning and then rolling her eyes, Santana walks towards her mom and says, "I know Mom, but I need this. I need to grow up and be independent. Isn't that what you wanted?"

Her mom bites her lip and Santana prays that she doesn't start crying.

"Yes. My little girl is growing up," She wraps her arms around her daughter and Santana softly hugs back.

"We should register for the course as soon as possible," Santana says as she pulls away from the hug.

"Right! I'll go get my laptop from my room and we can get you signed up."

Her mom goes up to her room to get the laptop she hardly ever lets Santana use, even though Santana is constantly helping her and teaching her how to use it. Luckily, when she was 16, her dad bought her one for herself since Santana and her mom were constantly fighting for laptop use.

When her mom comes down they begin to register her for the boot-camp. Her mom sits in front of the computer while Santana stands behind her and tells her what to do. Pointing at where she should be clicking and typing and such.

When all is finished, her mom sits back in her chair, "Well, Santana. I hope this helps you out. That was not cheap."

Nodding her head, "Yeah, I know." Is all Santana can say trying not to roll her eyes, knowing the money they get from her dad more can probably cover 5 of those boot-camps. She rather not get into it with her mom about her going to multiple mani-pedis as well as constantly getting her hair done and buying expensive clothing and jewelry. "Thanks, Mom."

/

Santana texts Quinn that night telling her everything has been settled with her mom and that she's officially registered to go to L.A. on the first Thursday of July. Quinn's responses are short with very little emotion and Santana knows exactly why. She suggest for them to meet up that evening to talk about it, which Quinn responds quickly with a _yes_.

That evening, they go to a bar and have a couple of drinks each. Well, six drinks each to be exact. They end up stumbling and giggling out of the bar with Quinn leaning on Santana's shoulder. They walk back to Santana's home where Quinn drags Santana to the side of her house and hugs her tightly.

"I'm going to miss you," Quinn slurs out.

"I'll miss you too, Quinn, but we still have another two months before I have to be anywhere, and even so, I'll only be gone for two months and we can always text and skype," Santana says rubbing her best friend's back up and down.

"I know, it's just weird not spending the summer with you."

"We have all of June."

"We have half of June because I'm taking summer courses."

"Now whose fault is that?" Santana laughs.

"Yours," Quinn whispers and holds her lips against Santana's neck, causing slight tingles to run up her body. "Your fault because you're leaving me."

Santana can feel Quinn's light kisses and her tongue swipe over her neck and she inhales a sharp breath and her words come out as a whisper, "But I'm coming back. New York is my home."

Quinn looks up and her lips brush lightly against Santana's, "Okay, Don't' forget to miss me."

"Of course I'll miss you," Santana says before she completely closes the gap and they begin kissing slowly. Santana's hands are in Quinn's hair and Quinn's arms are now wrapping tightly around Santana's waist. Quinn adds her tongue to the mix and Santana grips on tighter, letting Quinn do what she needs to do. Quinn slides her hands from Santana's waist to her stomach and slowly slides her hands up just under her breast then back down trailing her finger on Santana's waist band.

Santana's heart begins to beat faster, not because she wants this but because she doesn't. She likes kissing Quinn, sure. It's calming, it's soft, and it feels different than kissing guys – different in a good way, but she has never wanted to go any further than simply making out and maybe just a bit of groping. It just doesn't feel right.

Just as she's about to stop Quinn's hand the front door swings open causing both girls to jump, Quinn basically shoving Santana against the wall and jumping away. When Santana turns her head towards the door, she sees her mom dragging out a garbage bag and she exhales in relief when her mom doesn't notice them. The girls quickly fix their hair and smooth over their shirts before giving each other a nervous smile and sneaking around so they are more visible.

"Hey, Mom!" Santana says

"Hi, Mrs. Lopez," Quinn follows nervously.

"Hi, Quinn," Santana's mom says when she turns around, "Santana, how many times do I need to tell you to take out the garbage every Thursday night? If I didn't remember, we would have another week of old garbage."

"Sorry," she giggles. Trying her best not to sound buzzed.

"I'll see you tomorrow okay?" Quinn whispers like it's a secret.

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow."

Quinn says bye to Santana's mom and Santana heads back inside to get a drink of water.

"Are you drunk?" her mom asks.

"Nope."

"Did you go drinking?"

"Yup!"

"Why?"

Santana sighs, "Because Quinn and I wanted to go out and chat and decided to get a drink too."

"You're going to become an alcoholic."

Santana rolls her eyes and goes to her room without another word. She opens up her laptop and just surfs mindlessly until deciding to look more into the dance boot-camp in L.A.

On the website, there are two instructors that run the boot-camp. One of them is an Asian male, incredibly toned and not too much older than Santana, the other one is a half African-American, half Jewish man with an equally toned body and possibly younger than Santana. She reads over both of their profiles, both of them very impressive and she can't decide which instructor she would rather have. It also does not state on her registration which one she will get. It only says _TBA_. Closing her laptop with a shrug, a part of her thinks, _Maybe it's neither._

* * *

 **Brittany POV**

"Chris, Karl over to the back. Sharon move to the left a little bit… no, that's too much. Okay, right there. Tanya, you need to speed it up a little. Let's take it from the top." Brittany walks over to her laptop and starts the song over again. "Ready? 5-6-7-8…"

The group is moving around perfectly this time and Brittany is watching with a big smile on her face, bopping her head and tapping her hand against her thigh; keeping beat with the music.

When the routine is over, Brittany claps her hands and then shakes her fist in enthusiasm. "Great job, everybody. Take five. Joan, Betty, and Kate please come here for a moment." Brittany fixes their posture on certain moves. Moving their hands up half an inch to get it just right and getting them to practice it during their break."

After the class is over and the everyone clears out, Brittany packs up her laptop and iPod when she sees someone standing by the door.

"Wow, drill sergeant much?"

Brittany smiles and puts her bag over her shoulder, "What? I was being nice. This needs to be perfect, Sam."

Sam laughs, "I know, but damn. Britt, that was hardly half an inch. I didn't even notice a difference."

"Half an inch is half an inch. If I was half an inch from hitting you with my car, wouldn't you appreciate that half inch?" Brittany challenges.

"Touché." Sam nods. "Hey, I have to pick up some sheet music before dinner, is that okay?"

"Of course," Brittany says and gets into Sam's Dodge.

They drive to Sam's favourite music store and they walk in, the door chiming as they do. Sam going directly to the sheet music section and Brittany is browsing around, looking through some records when a man in a wheel chair approaches her.

"Can I help you with anything?" he asks.

Brittany smiles politely. "No, thank you. I'm just browsing while my friend looks for some sheet music." Nodding her head towards Sam.

"Oh yes, I've seen him here before. A regular. Are you his girlfriend?"

Brittany almost laughs, "Oh no, no." She looks back at the man. "He's my best friend. We're not together."

The man's smile widens, "Well, my name is Artie. If you need any help with anything, or if your friend over there needs a hand with something, please feel free to wave me down and I'll roll on over."

Brittany chuckles, "Thank you, Artie."

The man wheels over to the sheet music and it looks like he's organizing some papers while striking a conversation with Sam.

When Sam finishes, he takes the papers and lines up behind a mother with her child at the cashier.

"The guy likes you," Sam says while looking straight ahead.

"What?" Brittany asks

"The guy, in the wheelchair. He's totally drooling all over his lap for you."

"What? No, he was just being friendly. He doesn't even know me."

"Yeah, but he definitely wants a piece. He's looking at you right now."

Brittany turns her head and catches Artie ducking his head back down.

"Oh, that wasn't obvious at all, Britt," Sam laughs a whisper.

Brittany just shrugs, "He's kinda cute in a dorky musician kind of way."

Sam stops laughing and looks straight ahead once again. When Brittany sees this, she puts her arm around her best friend. "But you're cuter," she chuckles and messes up his hair and runs off to the side before Sam can get her back, knowing he can't leave his spot in line.

"I'll get you back, Pierce," Sam says laughing as he steps forward to pay for his sheet music.

The two of them go for dinner. Brittany insisting on paying her own portion this time, telling Sam that if he keeps paying, people are going to think they are on a date. To which Sam responds with, "Let them think what they want."

/

Brittany is at home watching dance videos to get some inspiration for choreography. Watching YouTube videos from the latest World of Dance competition. Her computer dings with a notification that she received a new e-mail. Pausing the video, she opens the e-mail seeing a new message from the boot-camp company with a full roster of registrants for her summer dance class. So far, she has 19 people in her class with 20 being the maximum. She clicks on everyone's ages and scrolls through it finding the average. Then she clicks on the names, seeing if she has more males or females. She nods when majority of the participants are female like she expected. Next she clicks on locations to see where everyone is from. As she scrolls she sees most of the people are from California with majority of them from Los Angeles. It intrigues her when she sees people from Washington, Nevada, and two from Arizona. Her eyes widen and her body leans up against her desk to make sure she's seeing it correctly.

"Wow, New York!" She mumbles to herself. Brittany has never been to New York, but it's definitely on her bucket list. She's taught many people that end up dancing in New York or she has worked with New York choreographers for productions or music videos, but never has anyone ever traveled that distance to take her class. She's in awe but at the same time it makes her nervous. She feels like she now has to live up to certain expectations so this _Santana Lopez_ will feel like it's worth it. Brittany closes the e-mail and goes back to working on her lesson plan so she can make a great impression on Santana Lopez from New York.

* * *

Question 1: Do you prefer shorter chapters but posted more frequently (1-2 weeks) or longer chapters posted later (3-4 weeks)?

Question 2: When our girls meet do you prefer I keep the separate POVs or not?

Thanks for reading.

Comments? Concerns? Constructive criticism? Please be kind. XOXO


	5. Friends?

AN: Thanks for all your input. Let the story continue.

* * *

 **Brittany POV**

"Getting nervous yet?" Sam asks two weeks before Brittany's boot-camp starts. "You shouldn't be though, they are the ones that should be nervous, you can be damn strict, Britt," he says with a smile.

Brittany chuckles and throws her half bitten Cheeto at her best friend. "I may be strict, but it's a boot-camp, Sam. What do you expect me to be? And, yes, I'm nervous so stop making me feel worse about it. I have no idea what these people are going to be like. What if they don't listen? What if they hate me? What if half of them drop out before the first month is even over?" She says more seriously.

Sam's smirk dies. "Hey, I'm sorry. You're going to be great. Your routines rock, you're creative, and please, everyone you teach loves you. These people, troubled or not, won't be any different," he says with an encouraging smile.

"Thanks," Brittany sighs nervously.

"Here," Sam says as he opens his arms.

Brittany shuffles herself over to Sam's side of the couch and leans against his chest, always comforted by his arms. Sam wraps himself around her securely before continuing. "You're going to be fine, Britt. They're going to love you."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I'm your best friend, and as your best friend I'm honest with you. And I'm honestly telling you that you will be just great. The company is going to love you, the participants are going to love you, and I…"

Brittany looks up at him for him to continue.

"… and I promise you that everyone will have a great time," he finishes quietly and gives Brittany a peck on the top of the head.

"Thanks, Bestie."

\

Brittany is putting on her jacket after finishing their lunch and watching their weekend movie. She needs to go back to work for a little bit to pick up some paperwork and finalize the summer sessions. As she is looking through her purse for her car keys, she looks up and sees Sam standing at the door nervously.

"What's up?" She asks as she continues to scrounge through her bag.

"Um, nothing. No. That's a lie. Brittany, can we talk about something?"

Brittany finds her keys and when she looks up for the second time, her eyes match his in nervousness. "Of course, but it's gotta be quick. The college closes in just over an hour and if I don't get these papers done I'm not getting paid. "

Sam is silent as he chews on his inner cheek.

"Sam, what's wrong?"

"What are we?" Sam almost mumbles but it's enough for Brittany to hear.

Her eyes scrunch at his question, "Human?"

Lightening the mood doesn't help when Sam's expression doesn't change.

"No, I mean, what are _we_?" He motions from him to her and back.

Brittany knows what he's asking but she doesn't want him to ask the question she's dreading. Brittany loves Sam. Sam is the brother, the buddy, the best friend she's always wanted. He's perfect.

Sam takes a step forward and Brittany tries her best not to take one back

"We're… we're best friends, Sam," She tries her best to be ignorant to his real question.

"Just best friends?" His hands are fists at his sides.

"Yeah, what else would we be?" Brittany feels incredibly guilty as she sees Sam's face deflate, but then it rises again.

"More."

"More?" _God, please don't do this, Sam._

Sam takes a step forward and places gentle hands on Brittany's wrists. He brings his body towards hers and pulls her in. Just as he is about to lean in, she tilts her head down and raises her hand to his chest to stop him.

"Sam." She shakes her head.

"Brittany…"

"Please," her words are hard to get out. Trying to keep her tears at bay and feeling a sob coming up from her throat, _please_ is all she manages to say.

An audible swallow comes from Sam as he lets go of her wrists, "Okay, I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, too," she sniffs and wipes away the tear that decides to fall.

"Please don't cry."

With another sniff, Brittany grabs her purse and walks towards the door. She feels like she's moving fast, but she knows she's not. She takes a step outside and Sam's voice stops her.

"Are we okay? Still best friends?"

Brittany can hear the worry in his voice. She looks back at him with as much of a smile as she can muster. "Still best friends," she confirms with a nod before taking another step and closing the door behind her.

Her legs can't take her any faster to her car. Once the door closes she gasps, not realizing she was holding her breath. She hates that she hurt Sam. She hates that he has these feelings for her. She hates that she doesn't. Sam would be the perfect boyfriend, just not for her.

When Sam first approached Brittany at school; walking into her practice session, Brittany had found Sam very attractive; with his fit body, charming good looks, and thick pouty lips. They got along well and right away hung out whenever they could. After dating for only a couple months, Brittany seriously considered starting an exclusive relationship with him, but eventually, they settled into a comfortable friendship and she realized this is what she wants from him. This is the perfect friendship. Now, it's hard for her to think of him as anything other than this. And in this painful moment, she really hopes she didn't just lose her best friend because she didn't want something more.

Deciding that she will call him tomorrow to make sure everything is alright between them, she wipes her face and takes a sip of water that has been sitting in her car and turns on the ignition. She drives towards the college to get what she needs.

After Brittany picks up the papers, she peaks into the dance studio. Seeing that it's empty and that she has 45 minutes left. She decides to let herself in and release some of her emotions. She plugs in her iPod and begins to move to the music. When she catches the beat, she starts to really move.

Sooner than she expects, there is a knock on the door. It is the janitor. Brittany looks up at the clock.

"Oh, shoot. I'm sorry!" she exclaims and rushes to unplug her music and pick up her bag.

"Don't worry," the short, skinny, pale skinned man says. "It's nice to watch you in your element. You're quite the dancer. I bet you're getting an _A_ in your class."

Brittany just laughs, "I'm the teacher. Well, I'm one of the teachers here."

"Really? Wow, I'm sorry. You just look so young."

"It's alright, I get that a lot. Thanks for letting me stay 15 minutes after closing. The time just flew by."

"Like I said, don't worry about it. Time flew for me when I was watching you," the man said with a wink. "Now get out so I can clean," he says with a chuckle.

"Right, right! I'm already gone. Thanks again!" Brittany says and quickly exits the studio and then the college.

That evening, Brittany receives a text from Sam acting as if nothing happened. She is more than happy to accept it. She hates when things are awkward. So, she carries the conversation as if this afternoon never happened, but she knows deep down that she should be more careful when she's around Sam not to lead him on.

* * *

 **Santana POV**

"Are you all done packing?" Quinn asks as they walk down the busy New York streets with half a hot dog in one hand and a soda in the other.

"Almost," Santana says as she chews on the other half of the hotdog and then takes a sip of her water. "I honestly have no idea what to expect, so I'm just bringing a bunch of work out gear."

"You probably over packed."

"I probably did, but I don't know if they have laundry there."

"It's almost a two month program, Santana. They're going to have some place for you to do laundry."

"Yeah, you're right. I should probably go through my luggage again. Take out some stuff."

"I can help you after we meet with Andrew," Quinn says as she throws the hotdog wrapper into the garbage can. Santana follows and does the same.

Andrew is the third member of their group. He has brown hair with a blondish tinge and hazel eyes. Santana had always thought Andrew was gay, but since the topic never came up, Santana never asked. The three of them went to high school together. Andrew was a member of the wrestling team and the three of them had P.E. together one year and they spent the entire year chatting. If Andrew wasn't on the wrestling team and Santana and Quinn weren't cheerleaders that year, they probably would have failed since they hardly did much else other than walk around and chat.

The three of them sit around a patio table. Each of them with a beer in front of them and fries and deep fried pickles in the middle to share. Andrew just came back from a week long wrestling competition and decided that he wanted to catch up with his two best friends and tell them all about it.

"So, Santana is going to leave us this summer to dance," Quinn says when she settles her beer back onto the table.

"What?" Andrew says with wide eyes focused in Santana's direction.

After sighing, Santana tells Andrew the whole story about her mom wanting her to commit to something and then come back knowing what she wants to do in life. She shrugs, pretending to not give a fuck about the whole situation. But in reality, she's nervous but also a little excited to be going to L.A. by herself.

"So, you're going to L.A. all by yourself for two months?" Andrew asks.

"Almost two months," Santana answers. "Seven weeks to be exact."

"That's intense. Why dance? Why L.A.?"

"Dance is the only thing I was remotely interested in and L.A. because it's far away from my mom. I mean, I love her but, she's getting to be too much."

Both Santana's friends nod. They know Santana's situation with her mom. She's a nice woman but she can be overbearing.

"So," Santana ask and picks up a pickle. "What happened at the wrestling competition last week? Did you win? Were there hot guys in tight spandex?" She wiggles her eyebrows at Andrew, but Andrew frowns.

"What do you mean hot guys? I don't notice hot guys, Santana. I'm not gay."

"Woah, I never said you were gay, Andrew. I asked for mine and Quinn's benefit. You know, if you met some and became friends with them, you could potentially bring them home for us!" She says, trying to tone down the tension.

The frown not leaving his face, Andrew continues answering her question, "No, I didn't win. I came in 5th place."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Quinn says.

"Yeah, but at least you had fun right?" Santana asks.

Andrew shrugs, the bitter look on his face making Santana feel a little guilty until the next words that come out of his mouth causes her face to distort into the same look he's giving her.

"It _was_ fun. Well, it was fun until I found out that I had to fight a fag on the last day. It ruined the rest of my week."

"Woah!" Santana says and sits up straighter, putting her hands out to stop his words. "Easy with the language there, Andrew."

"What? It's true," Andrew responds with a shrug. "I spent half the week worrying about him touching and groping me in places no other man needs to touch."

Santana raises and eyebrow and looks over at Quinn, but Quinn's eyes are focused directly at Andrew. Santana slowly turns her head back when Andrew continues.

"That's the reason I lost the match. I didn't want him copping a feel or something. I didn't want him to get a hard-on when I have him in a lock or pin him. That's just fucking disgusting!"

Santana opens her mouth to speak but not words come out. She's shocked. Again, she looks over at Quinn, but Quinn is nodding her head in agreement.

Finally, Santana decides to ask, "So, did he? Did he 'cop a feel' or 'grope you'? Did he hit on you?" She says trying hard not to roll her eyes at him.

"Fuck no! I stayed away from him. I would have forfeited the match if my coach wasn't so strict. Besides, the faggot had a boyfriend. Saw them making out at the afterparty."

"Ugh, that's gross," The words from Quinn causes Santana to snap her head around towards her best friend, "they probably wanted a three-way with you too."

"Fuck you, Fabray. But, probably," Andrew sticks up his middle finger to the blonde and then shrugs.

"Hold up, hold up here. Am I hearing this correctly? You guys have a problem with gays?" Santana holding her gaze mostly on Quinn.

"I don't when they're not touching me or making out in front of me," Andrew says and takes a handful of cold fries and shoves them in his mouth.

"Yeah," Quinn agrees. "They're fine to watch on television. They're entertaining, I'm sure Ellen is a good person. It's just –"

"Disgusting!" Andrew interrupts.

"Yeah," Quinn says. Eyes looking down at her beer before polishing off the glass. Refusing to meet Santana's glare.

"Why, Santana? You have a thing for the homos?" Andrew asks with a smirk.

Santana's mouth opens to answer. Looking back and forth between her two 'best friends', "No? I mean, like, they're still people and most of the ones I've met have been super nice. They're just regular people."

"Yeah, regular gay people who do gay things together. It's so unnatural, Santana. Your friends need to straighten themselves out or something, because dick and dick should not go together."

"But I'm sure you watch lesbian porn," Santana spits out.

Andrew laughs, "Of course. It's fucking hot!"

Santana rolls her eyes and grabs her purse from behind her. She takes out some money from her wallet and tosses her share onto the table. "I've gotta go home to pack. I'm sure you guys can carry on this conversation without me." She stands up and her chair gets pushed back harder than she intended.

Both Andrew and Quinn look up at her in surprise.

"Wait!" Quinn says and grips onto the Santana's wrist.

Santana really hoping Quinn has finally gotten to her senses and is going to speak out against Andrew.

"I told you I was going to help go through your luggage with you, I'll go too."

Santana squints her eyes in disbelief, "No, Quinn. You can stay here with Andrew. I'll be fine doing that myself. I'm sure you have a lot to catch up on."

Quinn looks over at Andrew and shrugs. Like she has no idea why Santana is suddenly so angry.

"Okay," Quinn says and looks back over to her. "I'll call you when we're finished and maybe I'll come over if you're still packing."

Santana shakes her head and exhales a tired breath. "Whatever, Quinn. I'll… I'll see you guys. I really gotta go." She grabs her purse and stomps away from the little outdoor patio they are sitting at and walks about a block before hailing a taxi and goes home.

Once home, she angrily digs through her purse tossing out her sunglasses and a pack of gum in favour of finding her pack of cigarettes. She hides once again at the side of her house and takes in multiple long drags. She hammers a fist against the brick wall at her frustration. These are her only two friends and they're homophobes. Santana knows she's at least bi. She doesn't know if she's fully into women or not, considering she still enjoys a good fuck with a guy once in a while, but to know her friends, especially Quinn, is against homosexuality just tears her apart. She tosses the butt into the can behind the pipe and takes out another stick right away.

Finally, after finishing her second cigarette, she goes into her house and looks around for her mom. She finds a note on the kitchen table.

 _Santana,_

 _Out to get my hair colored, then going to get my feet massaged. Won't be home til late. There's chicken in the fridge._

 _\- Mom_

Sighing, Santana drags herself into her room and reaches behind her closet door again. Opening the bottle of vodka and taking a swig before looking at her suitcase and the clothes sitting in and beside it. She walks over to it, considering going through it but instead she knocks over the pile with a hard swing of her left arm and then takes another sip of vodka. She kicks at the clothes and then after another two sips, she tightens the cap and tosses it onto a pile of clothes in her closet. She falls on top of her bed, face first into her pillow.

She can't wait to leave this city.

* * *

Comments? Concerns? Constructive criticism? Please be kind. XOXO


	6. Pack Your Bags

**Santana POV**

"What is your problem?" Quinn snaps when she approaches Santana sitting alone in the local coffee shop one afternoon having lunch and scrolling through her laptop. She stands above her and pulls Santana's left ear bud out.

"What the fuck?!" Santana says a little too loud and some people turn to look at all the commotion before continuing on with their lunch. Santana has a turkey and brie sandwich in one hand and is scrolling on the touch pad with her other. She puts her sandwich down and looks up at her very angry best friend. "What the hell, Quinn?" She knows very well why Quinn is upset.

"You didn't answer any of my calls or texts all week. I called you after Andrew and I had parted, which, by the way, you were very weird and kind of rude that day. I went to your house and your mom said you weren't home. Twice! Twice I went to your house! What the fuck, Santana!"

Santana chuckles sarcastically and puts her ear bud back in, ignoring all of Quinn's words. She had an entire speech ready for Quinn for when she saw her but right now, she can't even look at her.

Quinn slams her laptop shut and pulls out her ear buds once again. She folds her arm over her chest and sticks out her hip. A thing Quinn always does when she wants answers.

Santana looks at the clock on the side wall; deciding if there is enough time or not and quickly packs everything into her backpack. She rips the other ear bud out and shoves it into her bag as well, then stands and walks out of the cafe. Quinn following angrily behind her. They end up at the back of the coffee shop (one of their regular spots) and Santana goes behind a section of the wall that sticks out just enough for them to hide behind. Santana quickly turns around and kisses Quinn hard. Palming her right boob and pressing hard against her. Right away, Quinn slips her arms around Santana's waist and slides her fingers into her hair. Kissing her back just as hard. Out of nowhere, Santana shoves Quinn roughly against the wall again and takes a step back. Anger filling her body. Her eyes are engulfed in flames as they stares into the hazel ones in front of her.

"Was that disgusting?" Santana asks and wipes her mouth. "Was that so very disgusting and gross and wrong and unnatural?" Before Quinn can answer, Santana continues, "Was it entertaining enough for you though? Huh? Was it fucking entertaining for you?"

Quinn puts her hands up to surrender, "Woah. Chill out, Santana. What the fuck has gotten into you?"

Santana just shakes her head. "You said the other day that men kissing men was gross. That means women kissing women is gross too, right?" Santana repeats when Quinn doesn't answer, "RIGHT?"

"No!" Quinn shakes her head, "Like, well, I mean... like. I don't know. It's not gross kissing you though."

"What's the fucking difference between you and I kissing and two men kissing? It's the fucking same thing!"

"We don't do it in public… in front of people!"

"So doing it in public is what makes it gross?"

"Well, yeah, kind of."

"So, if someone unexpectedly turns this corner and catches us kissing, it would suddenly become gross? Just like that?" Santana snaps her fingers at the end of her sentence.

"Well, no. It's just... I don't know. What the hell are you getting at Santana?"

Santana huffs and runs her fingers over her face in frustration. "You're a fucking hypocrite."

Quinn's eyes narrow. Obviously not understanding. "How am I a hypocrite? I'm not a lesbian."

"Oh my, God, Quinn! Boys kissing boys are gross. Girls kissing girls are gross. You, girl, kissing me, girl, is not gross. Hypocrite!"

"It's gross because they're gay! We're not gay!"

Santana's heart falters a little bit. Her brain snaps suddenly in realization but instantly forces herself to come back into the conversation, "Please, you have to be a little bit gay if you enjoy kissing women."

"I'm not fucking gay."

Santana shrugs smugly, "Sure you're not."

"I'm not!" Quinn says louder.

"Okay, whatever you say, Fabgay!"

What happens next, Santana does not expect. Quinn's hand comes flying out and hits her right on the left cheek. A sharp, hot pain burns through her face before she grips her cheek and looks back up at her. Quinn had only ever slapped her one other time and it was when she was passing out from drinking too much at a party and Quinn had to wake her up when the parents who owned the house suddenly came home. Santana had also only slapped Quinn one time and it was when she found out that Quinn had fucked one of Santana's crushes behind her back. Santana forgave her when Quinn told her she had a mild case of HPV a couple weeks after.

"I'm not gay," Quinn whispers viciously. Suddenly, as if a light bulb goes off in Quinn's head, "Are you?"

This question catches Santana off guard. She knows a part of her has to be, but she's not ready to admit it. She's definitely not ready for Quinn to spread it. So, she says the one thing that she can without sounding like a hypocrite like Quinn. "No, I'm not. I enjoyed kissing you but I really enjoy fucking men. But even though I'm not, I'm not one to call it disgusting or wrong or unnatural. It is what it is and they are who they are. Who the fuck are we to judge? If they're happy," she shrugs, "let them be fucking happy."

Quinn looks at Santana as if she had just said that she eats cookies with hot sauce, but then she takes in a breath and shrugs. Letting her hands drop to her side like she's giving up a little.

"Fine. To each their own, I guess," Quinn says as if she's exhausted. "Are we done? Can we move on now?"

Santana licks her lips and she wants to say no but she shrugs as well. "Whatever, I guess."

Quinn looks around the wall and when the coast is clear she walks out, with Santana trailing behind her this time. Neither of them speaking to the other for the rest of the day. Quinn goes to her summer classes and Santana goes straight home. She has a cigarette on the way and immerses herself into packing as soon as she's in her room. She has a lot of rearranging to do when she decided she wanted to pack another couple pairs of shoes. She has to take more than a few items out to make them fit. Quinn was always good at packing, but there was no way Santana was going to ask her for help. Absolutely, no way.

That evening, she gets an email from the boot-camp company reminding her that in less than two weeks, her life is going to change with 'the magic of dance'. She gets assigned a room and a bed number in the athletics dorm she's staying in. They have yet to tell her who her roommate is and her instructor is still Mr. TBA. It doesn't really say _Mr._ But she assumes it considering the other two instructors are men. She reads the guidelines to the camp and she begins to feel nervous but at the same time she's so ready for a change. She's ready to fucking leave and get a fresh start somewhere else. Somewhere where people aren't so damn closed minded. She assumes one of the dance teachers has to be a little bit gay and decides it's the one named Jake.

\

Up until the day before she is set to leave, Santana hadn't heard from Quinn and she hasn't tried to contact her either. Santana is starting to miss her best friend already but refuses to admit defeat by reaching out.

Zipping up her back pack and getting ready for an early night, she receives a text.

 **Sent by Q: come outside.**

Santana sighs and without responding, goes down the stairs and sneaks out the front door. Her mom had also decided to get an early night in. As soon as she opens the door, she sees Quinn standing against the handrail of the stairs.

"Can we talk?" Quinn asks quietly and Santana nods. Closing the door gently before reaching into her pocket and taking out the single cigarette she stuck in there knowing she would need it. She reaches into her other pocket and pulls out a lighter.

They walk down the steps and around to the side of the house where Santana lights up. Quinn just watches her.

Santana waits for Quinn to speak because she honestly has nothing to say.

Quinn clears her throat, "Look, I'm sorry if I offended you the other day. I didn't mean to be homophobic it's just, it was just so normal for me to speak that way considering what I hear from my parents and from hanging with Andrew. I'm not… I'm not homophobic. I promise."

Santana nods as she sucks in another breath and fills her lungs with Newport. "Okay."

"I'm…" Quinn looks down at her feet, bites her bottom lip, and then plays with the hem of Santana's t-shirt. "I'm going to miss you. God, we've been through a lot together haven't we?"

This makes Santana think more than she wants to. Yes, they've been through a lot together. Quinn has been there for her on numerous occasions when her mom freaks out on her. She kicked her out of the house for a couple days when she found out she was having sex. She was there for her when her dad decided to come back one drunken night and begged Santana to be his daughter again. That day Santana cried on Quinn's shoulder for a good hour in anger and frustration not knowing if she should forgive her father or not. Quinn was there for her when her dad came back another time to talk to her mom about some 'important issues' and it ended with Santana's dad leaving in a rush and her mother threatening to kill herself if he didn't come back. After calming down her mother, Santana spent the next 3 hours on the phone with Quinn at 1 in the morning freaking out about everything that had happened. She wasn't going to throw their friendship away because of a few words Quinn said. She wasn't going to throw their friendship away because there was a possible misunderstanding.

Santana clears her throat, "Yeah, we've been through a lot and… and I'll miss you too." The words don't come out as smoothly as they usually do.

"Will you call me and text me daily?" Quinn asks.

"I'll do my best to keep you up to date. I have no idea how things are going to work over there. I have no idea how strict their rules are, but I promise I'll do my best." Santana takes a final drag and leans over to toss the butt into the can behind the pipe; hearing the hiss when it hits the thin layer of water.

As soon as Santana looks up, Quinn crashes their lips together. Suddenly, Santana feels comforted and kisses back. Hands are all over each other's abs and back. Fingers are tangled in their hair and their breathing becomes faster. Quinn slips in some tongue and Santana eagerly accepts. When Quinn begins to reach her hands downward and slowly slips her fingers down Santana's shorts, Santana hesitates for a moment and decides to just let it happen.

When Santana doesn't stop her this time, Quinn slides her fingers lower and underneath the panties. Santana stops kissing for just a moment and then grips tighter to Quinn's t-shirt and waits for Quinn to reach her destination. Her breath hitches when Quinn slips her fingers between Santana's folds and Santana closes her eyes tighter, trying to tell herself that it's okay. She feels Quinn hesitate as well when she runs her fingers through her folds a second time. When Quinn slides her hand down lower and tries to enter Santana, that's when she can't take it anymore. Before she can even think about it, Santana grabs Quinn's arm and pulls it upward and out of her pants.

"No, no. I can't. I can't. I'm sorry," Santana whispers. Her breathing is laboured and she covers her face with her own hands. "I'm sorry. I just… I can't."

Taking in a deep breath and releasing it slowly, Quinn nods. "It's okay. I just thought… I thought it's what you wanted. I'm sorry too."

"I thought, maybe? I don't know, but I don't think I can. Maybe… maybe when I come back? Maybe after I've gone and figured everything out?"

Quinn nods in understanding and Santana feels relieved that her words worked. "Hey, I should probably go now. You need to get some rest for your trip tomorrow. I'll come by before you leave though, okay?" Quinn says with a smile.

Santana smiles back and nods. "Okay. I'd like that, thank you."

They give each other a hug and Quinn kisses her on the cheek before slowly peeking out onto the streets and then walking away from the house.

Santana runs her palms over her face again and reaches into her pocket. "Fuck," she whispers to herself when she realizes she only put one cigarette in there. She leans against her house to take in everything that happened in the last 10 minutes and then wonders why she didn't go through with it with Quinn. A part of it felt right, but a part of it felt so wrong. She goes back into the house to use the bathroom. Expecting to see a wet spot when she pulled down her panties, she's surprised when there isn't one. She thought she was turned on. For the sake of testing, she runs her own fingers through her folds and her brows scrunch when she realizes that she actually isn't wet at all. She figures that's why Quinn had hesitated when she did the same thing. Maybe she's straight after all. Maybe she's not turned on by girls. Maybe she just likes making out with them because God knows that she gets wet after foreplay with the men she has slept with. Well, at least after about half an hour of neck kisses and nipple play in a very dark room.

With a shrug, she goes pee and washes up before going to bed because tomorrow afternoon, she's flying to Los Angeles.

* * *

 **Brittany POV**

Brittany receives a phone call when she's in the middle of packing a small carry-on suitcase and a backpack.

"Whatcha doin?" Sam asks after Brittany picks up the phone and greets him.

"Packing."

"For what?"

"For the boot-camp next week."

"Why do you need to pack? Isn't it in town?" Sam asks confused.

"It is, but I still need to stay in the dorm with everyone else. That way I don't have to drive down every morning and drive back in the evening. Besides, everything is paid for – breakfast, lunch, dinner, laundry – so why not? If I'm missing anything I can easily come home to grab it… or I can call you to lug it over for me," Brittany laughs, but immediately regrets it because that's something she needs to stop doing. She needs to stop asking Sam for favours and to keep a safe distance between them.

"Yeah, of course," Sam says. "Any time, just give me a call."

"I was just kidding," Brittany says trying to sound light hearted.

There's a bit of silence and Brittany is about to check to see if they're still connected but then Sam speaks, "Sure, but, for real, if you need anything, just let me know."

Brittany smiles to herself because Sam is just so damn sweet. "Thanks."

"Are you able to come out for dinner tonight?" Sam asks finally getting to the reason why he called in the first place.

"I can't tonight," Brittany says sadly. "I have dinner plans with my family tonight and then my sister is staying over so I can drive her to her softball game tomorrow morning. Mom and Dad are both working graveyard shifts tonight.

"Okay, maybe sometime next week then," Sam says with a hint of disappointment in his voice but then he peps up quickly. "Do you need company at Sarah's game?"

Brittany thinks for a minute, "Yeah, you know what? That would be great! It can get so boring when I'm there alone."

"Great! Why don't I pick the two of you up at 10 tomorrow?"

"Her game starts at 9," she giggles.

"So, 8:30 it is!" Sam says enthusiastically.

After they hang up, Brittany continues to pack her bags and checks her e-mail while she waits for her family to arrive. Logging in to her work account, she notices a new member joining her class which brings her to a total of 20 participants. Her class is officially full. It makes her nervous because she has never taught a full class before, let alone teaching a full class all on her own.

Before she has time to panic, her doorbell rings and she rushes out to greet her family.

\

They go out to eat at Sarah's favourite pasta and pizza restaurant and they talk about Brittany's job.

"Do you think you will ever go back to school?" Brittany's mom asks and Brittany furrows her brows while her dad rolls his eyes.

"Um…" Brittany starts with while twirling her linguine with her fork. "Well, I mean… what's the point? I have a great job that I love, the hours work for me, and I'm moving up in this community – I'm leading my own boot-camp this year."

"Yes, but don't you think a higher education would help you move up a little faster? At least help you out with some of the administrative work?" Her mom pushes.

Brittany sighs, "Honestly, mom, there's no point. I'm not smart enough for college."

"It's because you don't apply yourself, Brittany. You can if you only applied yourself," Brittany's mom continues only to make Brittany feel more and more uncomfortable and irritated.

"Honey," her dad chimes in and looks at his wife, "If Brittany is happy doing this, I think it's just fine. Brittany is doing well for herself, she's paying all her bills, she's not letting us help with her rent nor did she let us buy her a larger place than the one she is currently living in. After we got her the car 6 years ago, she's been paying for gas and insurance all on her own. She's going to be fine."

Brittany gives her dad a grateful smile as her sister continues to text on her phone hardly looking up long enough stretch her neck.

"Sarah on the other hand might just get that damn phone taken away from her if she doesn't start spending some quality time with the family."

At that, Sarah looks up and flips her phone over so it's facing down on the table. She smiles graciously at her dad and looks over at Brittany.

"So, Britt. Still hanging out with that hottie you met in college?" Are the first words out of her sister's mouth and Brittany wishes she would go back to her phone but she rolls her eyes and answers.

"You mean Sam? Yes, Sam and I are still hanging out. We're best friends, I've told you that before."

Sarah rolls her eyes back at Brittany, "Please, a guy and a girl can't just be best friends. It doesn't work that way. We did a poll at school and 90 percent of people said that it's impossible for two people of the opposite sex to be best friends without at least one of them having feelings for the other. The other 10 percent are either in denial or gay, but even then the non-gay one probably still has some sort of hidden attraction."

"A high school poll?" Brittany asks and goes back to slurping up some pasta.

"Yeah, so?"

"Exactly."

The dinner continues with a change of topic until they part ways when her dad drops them off at Brittany's house after once again mentioning that he is willing to help her buy a larger place to which Brittany shakes her head and gives her dad a kiss on the cheek.

Brittany has the futon pulled out by the time her sister washes up. They chat for a little bit, mostly about why Brittany isn't dating her best friend. Brittany tries her best to steer the conversation back to her sister and asks if she has a boyfriend. To which her sister says no but she and a few other girls have a huge crush on their softball coach. ' _Of course.'_ Brittany thinks to herself.

\

"By the way, Sam is going to take us to your game. He'll be here in 20 minutes," Brittany says the next morning when her sister is buttering her toast.

"Sam? Sam is coming to my game?" Sarah says. Her eyes wider than Brittany has ever seen this early in the morning.

Brittany chuckles, "Yes, Sam is coming to the game. I hope you don't mind."

Sarah shakes her head and finishes her breakfast. She goes into the washroom and comes out with what Brittany believes to be a little bit of make up. She just laughs to herself and opens the door when Sam calls her to tell her he's outside.

The game is definitely as boring as Brittany remembers it being. She loves cheering on her sister and her team, but when Sarah isn't up, she doesn't feel the need to watch the game so her and Sam chat. They talk mostly about Sam's music and Brittany's dance classes. They talk about Sam's non-existent dating life and Brittany's extremely busy schedule. Sam mentions that the music store guy in the wheel chair asked about her twice in the two times Sam went in to look for more music and a couple of records. For the life of her, Brittany cannot seem to remember the poor guy's name.

When the game ends and Sarah's team wins by two runs, Sam insists on taking her and Brittany out for ice cream before dropping Sarah back off at her parent's home. Brittany notices Sarah and a few of her teammates ogling over Sam and just laughs and nudges Sam to take a look. When Sam looks over, they all blush and turn away giggling.

"Rocky Road for me, cherry chocolate gelato for Britt, and what do you want champ?" Sam asks Sarah.

She looks up at him, "Chunky strawberry!"

Sam puts his arm over Sarah's shoulder and Brittany can see the blush forming.

"A double scoop of chunky strawberry for this slugger here," Sam says pulling Sarah closer to him and then patting her on the shoulder before letting her go. Brittany can't help but inwardly laugh at her sister's reaction. Her pale skin is flushed pink up to her ears and she can't wait to tease Sarah about it the next time they're together.

After ice cream and they drop Sarah off at her parent's house, Sam drives Brittany back.

"So?" Sam says as he glances over at her for a second before looking back at the road.

"So, what?" Brittany asks.

"So, are you ready to teach your summer classes?"

"Gosh," Brittany shakes her head, "I don't think I'll ever be ready. I have no idea what to expect."

"You'll be fine," Sam says as he puts a hand on Brittany's thigh, causing her to jump a bit. "Besides, you have a helper right? An assistant?"

Brittany shakes her head, "No, I don't think so. They never told me anything about getting one, but even if I do, I still don't know what to expect."

Sam nods, "If you have any trouble or you want to rant or vent or whatever, you just give me a call, okay?"

Brittany nods, then to take the seriousness out of the conversation, she quickly swaps over to another topic.

"So, Sarah is totally crushing on you."

Sam looks over and smiles but shakes his head.

"No, really. I think even her teammates might feel the same way too."

Sam just laughs.

"You should've seen her when you put your arm around her at the ice cream shop, man she was blushing so much, it was hilarious. Didn't you notice?"

Again, Sam shakes his head. "No, I didn't. That's funny though. Your sister is too cute."

"Cute?" Brittany says with a grossed out look on her face, "Don't even go there, Sam. You better not try to date my baby sister."

They both laugh and Sam is silent for a second before responding with, "Please, I'm only going to let one Pierce break my heart."

With that, Brittany's laughter subsides and they go into another awkward silence for the rest of the ride home.

\

Brittany spends the rest of the week working and finalizing her paperwork and choreography. She makes sure the itinerary and schedule is set for the boot-camp and sends it out to the company manager. She goes to her college class's recital and is constantly running around to make sure everything is perfect. Which it was. The students loved it. The audience loved it and Brittany just feels relieved that it's all over.

All her bags are packed and she's going through her check list of stuff to bring. She's leaving tomorrow and she doesn't want to have to come home just pick up a pair of runners or her underwear. She wants to make sure she has everything. Before bed, she checks her e-mail one last time and sees she has a new one from the boot-camp company. A part of Brittany is relieved to find out that she will in fact have an assistant for the duration of the camp. Her name is Breanne, she's 19 and she's had intensive dance and gymnastics training. Brittany hopes they can work well together. She logs in again to check the statistics to her class and sees that it's still at full capacity. It still awes her that the words _New York_ are listed as one of the cities from which this _Santana Lopez_ will be flying in from to join her class. She really wants to help this girl out. Help her fix whatever issues she may be having if she's willing to fly over 6 hours to live in a dorm and dance with her for 7 weeks.

Brittany can't sleep that night. She's too nervous.

* * *

AN: Our girls will finally be in the same city next chapter! Thanks for sticking with me!

Comments? Reviews? Constructive criticism? Please be kind.


	7. Into the Dorm

AN: Sorry readers. Life got in the way and haven't had any time to sit and write. I do want to continue with the story because I have a lot in mind but at the same time, I'm still contemplating because I know how small the fan base is now. I know I said I'll never abandon a story so even if I don't plan on continuing through with all my ideas, it will have an ending.

* * *

 **Brittany POV**

"It's so nice to meet you, Brittany," the man at the office says. "I'm Dan. Breanne will be here shortly. In the meanwhile, here is your key to your dorm room. You will be getting your own room since you are our instructor here. You have your own toilet and shower but you might want to keep that on the down-low since you're the only one that has that. Everyone else will have to use the locker room showers with individual stalls. The laundry is in the east wing, there is a vending machine for detergent, but if you need any just come to me and I'll provide you with these special coins," he reaches under the desk and pulls one out, "that the machine will take. All the utilities are free for you as well as the Wi-Fi. We don't usually give out the Wi-Fi password because the whole point of this boot-camp is for them to learn and focus. We try to keep the participants away from electronics. Only you and Breanne will be getting the password. If you feel the need to give it to someone, go ahead but if they get distracted from your lessons, that's on you. Other than that, do you have any questions for me?"

Brittany shakes her head.

"Alright, why don't you get settled in. There's a phone in your room and I'll give you a call when Breanne arrives because from my knowledge you haven't met, correct?"

"That's correct."

The man nods and points to the right, "Your room is down this hallway and to the right. Room number 052."

Brittany thanks the man and takes her luggage and back pack and walks down the hallway. It's not a big luxurious hallway but it's not small and shady either. It's comfortable as Brittany would call it. Her room, on the other hand is much nicer than she expected it to be. The bed is a queen and the sheets look new. There is a small dining table, a TV, and a small sofa. There is a small kitchenette in the corner and the bathroom also looks newly renovated. It basically looks like your average four star hotel room.

Brittany takes out her toiletries and sets herself up. She hangs a few items in the closet and takes her shoes out to put under it. Fifteen minutes later, the room phone rings and she goes out to greet Breanne.

"Hi, I'm Brittany," she says cheerfully and lifts up her hand.

"Breanne," the slightly shorter, darker girl with dark brown hair and blonde streak says. She shakes Brittany's hand with little to no enthusiasm.

"So, Breanne, I've heard you have some experience with dance and gymnastics?"

"Mhm, I have."

Awkward silence.

"That's cool…" Brittany tries to think of something to say but she's lost for words so she goes straight to the reason they are there. "… so, I have a package for you that includes most of the stuff I want to do this summer. The things I would like everyone to accomplish during their time here with us as well as drills, choreography, music, and stuff like that. I can give you the package now if you want?"

Breanne tilts her head as if she's bored, "Yeah, sure, but I'm just going to put this in my room and settle in. You can come by my room – number 066 – in about ten minutes to give me the stuff."

Being the kind of person she is, Brittany doesn't give it a second thought and smiles and nods. "Okay! I can do that. I'll see you later then."

"Yup," is all Breanne says in response.

Brittany goes to her room and waits. She tidies up a little bit when she receives a text from Sam asking if she had arrived safely at the dorm. She sits down on the edge of the bed texting him until it's time to bring the papers to Breanne.

\

"Wow, that's a lot to go through," Breanne says when she opens the door and see's the thick folder in Brittany's hand.

"Yeah, well. I might have gone overboard with the details, but it's all in here. Just wanted to make sure we're on the same page."

"Yeah, well, don't expect me to read all of this."

Brittany opens her mouth to say something but just ends up giving her the best smile she can muster up and says, "I understand. It's a lot of material."

With Breanne's cold personality, Brittany can't think of much else to say so she quickly says goodbye as kindly as she can and makes her way back to her room and waits there until the participants are to arrive at 2pm. While she waits, she texts Sam and tells him that she's more worried about her assistant than the participants now. That she doesn't seem very friendly at all and that there is absolutely no chemistry between them and she has no idea how she's going to work with her.

Sam responds with an encouraging text but Brittany can't seem to fight the nerves.

/

Around 2 o'clock, Brittany can hear voices in the hallway; people are chatting and suitcases arerolling down the hall. There is supposed to be a meet and greet at 5pm so she doesn't actually have to be out of her room until then. She decides to set her alarm and close her eyes for a couple of hours since she had almost no sleep last night.

When 4:30pm rolls around, Brittany is up and ready to meet her group for the summer. She gets lead by the Dan to the official dance studio and she waits there with a pen and some papers she will be handing out to each member.

Breanne is standing next to her within minutes and Brittany hands her half the stack so she can hand them out too.

People start trickling in. Some are in groups of two or three. Some are by themselves and look scared and nervous. Some are by themselves and look pissed off and irritated. Some people look excited to be there but some look like they belong in an episode of _Scared Straight._ She takes a roll call right at 5 o'clock knowing she is missing one person.

"Emily Shaw?"

"Present!"

"Andy Pickler?"

"Here."

"Ashton Lee?"

"Yup!"

"Santana Lopez?"

The room is silent and everyone looks around at each other.

"Santana Lopez?"

Nothing.

"Okay, no Santana Lopez," Brittany says out loud and marks it down on her attendance sheet but a part of her heart sinks. _Maybe it was a mistake that she registered? Maybe she doesn't actually want to be in my class? Maybe she decided not to leave her city?_ Brittany doesn't know why she cares so much, so she blames it on the fact that her class is now uneven. Even though she was looking forward to meeting Santana Lopez from New York.

\

After Brittany does a brief introduction, her and Breanne begin handing out the syllabuses. Each person does an introduction as well and Brittany writes down little notes like, ' _James – 18 – has 3 dogs'_ and ' _Jessica – 23 – loves sushi,'_ so she can feel more connected to these people.

After about an hour of introductions and going through the guidelines and rules of the boot-camp, Brittany quickly gives an overview of the syllabus and answers a few questions. She then lets everyone know that breakfast will be served in the cafeteria between 7am and 9am and their first cardio and technical movement class will begin at 10am at the front of the main building.

The group is dismissed and most people leave without as much as a goodbye. Brittany knows she's going to have her work cut out for her. Even Breanne leaves without discussing the next day's schedule. Brittany sighs and gathers all her notes and papers and walks out into the hall. There is people all around trying to figure out where the cafeteria is going to be and asking each other where the nearest mall or convenient store is. Brittany is sure most of them are planning to go out as soon as possible since they all have to back at the dorm by 9pm.

When Brittany reaches her room, she puts the key in to unlock the door when she hears a loud female voice yelling from the other end of the hall. "What do you mean I missed it? What do you mean you don't have one for me? I just TOLD you it wasn't my fault! WHAT DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DO?! This is bullshit!"

Instead of unlocking her door, she walks quickly back down the hall to see if there was an issue with one of her members, but by the time she maneuvered through the crowd of people hanging by the front desk, Dan is already talking to another person who is most definitely not yelling at him. Suddenly she hears a loud slam of the door down the west wing.

* * *

 **Santana POV**

"So, this is everything?" Quinn asks when the taxi driver fills the trunk with the final piece of luggage. Her mother standing by the door with a pout.

"I sure hope so, I don't even know if I'm going to be able to buy anything there."

"I'm sure they'll let you guys roam free once in a while. It's not prison," Quinn laughs.

"Hey, you never know," Santana shrugs, "I've seen some crazy boot-camp reality shows."

The taxi driver clears his throat as he waits by his door.

"Alright, this is it. I'll see you in two months, Mom," She opens her arms and gives her mother a hug.

"Be good, Santana," her mother says, "and when you come back I hope to see a brand new you! Perhaps meet a nice boy there as well."

Santana rolls her eyes. "I'm not sure the boys at a dance camp would want to meet _me_ , mom. Besides, it's _dance_ camp, the chances of the boys there being gay are like, really high," she scoffs and rolls her eyes.

Her mother scowls and then shakes her head.

Santana internally laughs, knowing that shut her mother up. She then turns and faces her best friend.

"Quinn, I'll text you when I arrive at the camp and I'll see you when I get back."

Quinn stands there biting her bottom lip, looking at the floor. She nods.

"Aw, come here," Santana says and gives Quinn a big hug. "I'll be back before you know it."

Quinn hugs back tightly and nods into her hair, "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too," Santana says as she pulls away. She gets into the taxi and with one last wave, the driver pulls away and Santana is off to the airport.

\

Boarding time is at 8am. It's 8:15am and they still haven't called for boarding yet. They had notified all the passengers on her flight that they will be slightly delayed because the plane that they were supposed to be flying in is delayed coming into the terminal due to weather issues from their previous departure location. She texts Quinn while she waits but in order to save her battery she stops texting her at about 9am.

It's 9:15am and they finally get called for boarding. The lineup is long and there are some idiots that don't feel the need to show their passports again, so there they are, digging through their bags for passports for two adults and two kids. Everyone is impatient and cranky and this family has the audacity to turn to look at the line, shrug and say, "How were we supposed to know?"

To which the attendant responded with, "Ma'am, we had announced it multiple times that we will need to re-check all passports and boarding passes."

The lady just shrugs and hands them to the man 3 minutes later.

Finally, when Santana gets to her seat, she looks at the clock on her phone again, 10am and people are still coming in. She sighs heavily and tries to call the boot-camp to let them know she's most likely going to be late. It rings five times with no answer so she gives up, cancels the call and puts on her headphones. The man next to her is looking at her with that look that Santana is trying hard to avoid. He looks like a man who has been on a business trip for months and is waiting to get home to his wife so he can bang her brains out. He looks so horny that Santana can basically smell his balls sweating. She zips up her jacket and throws the hood on for good measure. She closes her eyes to relax and when the attendant finally announces that they are ready for lift off, Santana turns her phone on to airplane mode when she looks at the time, 10:15am.

 _Fuck!_ She thinks to herself when she calculates the amount of time it's going to take her to get to L.A. she knows she's going to be late for orientation. It's too late to call them now so the best she can do is call them when she lands.

Not only is her day going oh so well, but her headphones start to quiet down, then get loud again before shutting down completely. She checks all the plugs and even bangs on them a few times but to no avail. She keeps them in to prevent anyone from talking to her but that doesn't mean she doesn't hear the man moaning next to her while he eats his bag of cheesy dill popcorn; licking his fingers and smacking his lips. Santana restrains herself from clawing at his face.

\

She rushes out of the plane as fast as she can. Of course, everyone by now is tired and taking their sweet ass fucking time while walking through the narrow hall exiting the plane. LAX is also a shitty and confusing airport and Santana had to ask 2 different people where the carousels for luggage pick up were and 3 other people where she can find the taxi stand. By the time she gets in the taxi it's 5:30pm.

She tells the driver the location of the camp and as he's driving she's looking for the number to call again. This time, the line is busy. "Shit!" she says out loud and the driver looks at her from the rear-view window. Her knees are bouncing up and down hoping somehow that would make the taxi go faster. It doesn't.

When she gets to the camp, she pays the driver and drags her luggage as quickly as she can towards the main doors. She sees about 7 girls hanging around, chatting. Some others, both male and female are slowly coming out of another building outside. She gets to the front desk and approaches the man sitting behind it.

"Hi," she huffs. She's sweaty and she's sure her hair is in disarray, her luggage is in everybody's way and she's looking though her wallet for her ID and registration number. "I'm Santana Lopez," she says and shows him the confirmation number, "I'm so sorry I'm late. I tried calling but there was no answer. My flight from New York was delayed and everyone was so slow getting onto the plane and -"

"That's okay, Miss Lopez," Dan says. "I completely understand, however, you've missed the orientation."

"What do you mean I missed it?" she says loudly.

"The best I can do is give you the key for tonight and you can catch up tomorrow. I see everyone has a syllabus but unfortunately those were handed out at orientation by the instructor and I don't have one for you."

"What do you mean you don't have one for me?!"

"I'm sorry, but it's not the camp's fault you missed the first day. Orientation started at 5, you're over an hour late," Dan says as calmly as possible but Santana is so irritated, she needs to yell at someone and Dan is that someone.

"I just TOLD you it wasn't my fault! WHAT DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DO?!" She says louder than anticipated and everyone suddenly goes quiet, all eyes are on her.

"You'll just have to ask someone for the schedule," Dan puts his arms out to show that she has all these people to ask.

She looks around and she knows people are judging her already. There is no way she's going to ask these people who probably already think she's a rude and conceited bitch. She grabs the keys off the desk. He points her in the direction of her room and she pulls her luggage sloppily behind her, "This is bullshit!"

She finds her room and opens the door. Once she manages to get all her luggage in, she closes it hard and it slams a lot louder than she wanted it to, knowing that she's already gotten herself a bad reputation. She pulls her luggage and sees two beds and as she looks over at the far bed she sees a girl standing there. Shocked and a little afraid. Santana rolls her eyes, "Sorry," she mumbles.

"That's alright," the girl says. "You must be my roommate, my name is Rachel." Santana opens her mouth to speak but apparently Rachel isn't done. "I'm here to learn dance because I need it if I'm going to be on Broadway one day. I've already perfected singing and acting, so dancing is all I have left to do." Again, Santana opens her mouth to speak. Nope. "I didn't see you at the orientation. You must be the missing person, Sasha Lorrenzo."

Santana automatically squints her eyes at the shorter brunette, contemplating whether to scoff and bitch her out or slowly back out of the room and leave this crazy woman alone, but when Rachel sticks out her hand to greet her, Santana sees the syllabus sitting on the desk, so she settles for an eye roll and shakes this girl's hand. "Santana Lopez," she introduces herself by enunciating her name very clearly.

Rachel doesn't seem to catch on to or had ignored her previous mistake. "Oh, Santana we are going to have so much fun! Here, this is what our instructor gave us today." She passes the papers to Santana. She grabs them quickly out of Rachel's hands and reads through it, glad there are no actual classes later today. "Our instructor's name is Betty Pearsons. She's tall and blonde and she seems very nice. I hope she's nice. Her assistant doesn't seem as nice though."

"She?" Santana asks and looks up from the papers, "Our instructor is female?"

"Yup!" Rachel replies. "Why? Did you prefer a male instructor?"

Santana shakes her head, "No, no. I just, I just assumed it was going to be male."

Rachel continues to talk and unpack at the same time. She continues to talk even when Santana has stopped listening. Santana reads through the syllabus and flips the page and she reads it all very carefully since she doesn't have a copy but scrunches her brows when she gets to the very bottom. She looks up at Rachel and subtly shakes her head and looks back down at the last few words of the page.

 _Most importantly, have fun!_

 _Brittany S. Pierce – Instructor._

* * *

XOXOXO Show me some love - you already know I love you back!


	8. The First Encounter

AN: I know I'm not updating as much as I should. I want to but the writing process is going a lot slower than I expected, but alas, an new chapter.

* * *

 **Brittany POV**

 ** _Oh, don't you dare look back, just keep your eyes on me. I said you're holding back, she said SHUT UP AND DANCE WITH ME…_**

Brittany squints her eyes and fumbles around to turn off her alarm clock. With a yawn, she gets up and goes to the washroom. It's 6:45am and she wants to go in to grab some breakfast before it's full of people. She puts her hair into a ponytail and slips on some sweat pants and a hoodie before heading out into the hallway and towards the lunchroom. The hallway is quiet. She looks at her watch. It's 7:10am. She looks into the lunchroom and there is one lunch lady and two students that look like they're falling asleep in their toast and cereal.

Brittany grabs a banana and a bowl of hot oatmeal. She throws some brown sugar and almonds into it and grabs a seat. She looks out the window and sees that the weather is nice, _maybe I'll have the cardio class outside, she thinks._

When she puts her bowl away, a few more people enter the cafeteria. Most of them greeting her with smiles and waves, some of them don't even look like they're fully awake. She grabs a coffee and goes back to her room and fixes her hair. She rummages through her papers to find the correct date and pulls out her cardio workout spreadsheet.

"Day 1 of… many," she says to herself. She sits down on the little couch and sips on her coffee, trying her best to be energized and upbeat to start this day off right.

By the time it hits 9:30am, Brittany is in the dance studio stretching. She's going through the work out list and sees Breanne walking in. Brittany smiles at her, but it is obvious that Breanne is not a morning person. She looks pissed off and kind of hungover.

"Did you read the cardio workout for today?" Brittany asks.

Breanne just glares at her, "Read what?"

"The… the cardio workout. It was in the package I gave you. I had all the workouts on a spreadsheet labeled by the date."

Breanne shakes her head, "No, I didn't get through it all. Just tell me what we are doing."

Brittany clears her throat, "Um, okay. We'll start out with a 10 minute warm up and stretch then go into some isolations; head, shoulders, ribs, pel –"

"I know what isolations are, keep going," Breanne says impatiently.

Brittany takes a deep break and continues, "We'll go into some jumping jacks and lunges then we'll start grooving. We'll try to keep the intensity high. We will go 15 minutes then a 3 minute break then another 15 minutes. Last 5 minutes we'll do a cool down and stretch." Brittany looks at Breanne and when she doesn't respond Brittany asks, "Does that work?"

"Huh?" Breanne snaps herself out of whatever daydream she was having, "Yeah, sure, whatever is fine."

Brittany lets out a sigh, knowing Breanne was listening to none of it. People begin trickling in so Brittany busies herself with the music, finding the right song she had prepared for the warm up. Right at 10am, Brittany asks Breanne to close to door. Surprisingly, she does it – after an eye roll.

Brittany counts heads and notices she has 20 today. _Santana from New York must have arrived._ She does a roll call again and tries her best to remember names, but she's really not good at them. She knows she will get some wrong.

"Rachel Berry?"

"Present, Miss Pierce," says a short Jewish girl that is overly dressed in yoga tights and high tops.

"Christopher McDavids?"

"Mhm, it's Topher," says a very fashionable man in the back left.

"Jordan Chen?"

"Here!" Says a dark haired girl in the middle row.

"Santana Lopez?"

Nothing.

Brittany is sure she counted 20 people in the room today, 22 including herself and Breanne.

"Uhh," she looks down at her paper again, "Santana Lopez?"

Brittany hears a whisper then, "Here," says a raspy voice from the right side of the room.

Brittany looks around to see where the voice is coming from, but she can't see anyone. "Uh, Santana, where are you?"

There are a few giggles and chuckles then a beautifully tanned arm raises and a head pops up from the side of a much larger, taller man covering her.

Brittany's eyes widen and is slightly taken aback from the beauty she sees. She stops herself from saying ' _Wow.'_

"Hi, Santana. Glad you can join us today… umm… see me after class –"

There are a bunch of 'oooh's' as if Santana were in trouble.

Brittany shakes her head, "… see me after class so I can give you a syllabus."

"Okay," she says. Again, the larger man is covering her so Brittany can only hear the voice, and what a voice it is. She continues with the rollcall.

/

When the cardio class finishes outside, Brittany announces that the dance and choreography portion of the bootcamp will be in the studio at 3pm sharp and she won't tolerate any latecomers.

Most people leave with a towel in one hand and a water bottle in the other. Brittany is sweating just as much as everyone else. She doesn't know when Breanne left and she's starting not to care.

"Thank you for the wonderful cardio lesson, Miss Pierce, it sure got my heart rate up. I can't wait until the actual dance portion of the class, I'm so excited!"

Brittany smiles politely. "Thanks, you can call me Brittany. Miss Pierce makes me sound so old," she laughs. "Berry, right?"

"Yes! Berry, Rachel Berry."

"Rachel, yes, right."

"How old are you, Miss… I mean Brittany. If you don't mind me asking, you look really young to be a teacher."

Brittany laughs, "I'm 22."

Rachel gives her a smile and says something to Santana before going back into the main building. Only her and Santana are left.

They stand there looking at each other and Brittany doesn't know why Santana is standing there staring at her. She doesn't mind though, Santana is a gorgeous young woman. Brittany is captivated by her chocolate eyes, her beautifully tanned soft skin, her luscious lips that seem to be curving upward into a smile. Oh, her smile is stunning and that dimple…

"Brittany?" Santana says cautiously.

"Yes?" Brittany snaps her eyes back up to meet Santana's. Glad that she was brought back to earth before her eyes wandered down any lower.

"Umm… my syllabus?"

"Huh? Oh! Right! Yes, come with me, it's in the studio."

Brittany opens the door for Santana and Santana graciously nods and steps in. Brittany looks through her bag for the extra syllabus.

"So, Santana Lopez. You're here all the way from New York?" Brittany's eyes still busy searching for the syllabus in her bag.

"Oh! Yes, yes I am. How… how did you know? Do I sa'ow'nd like ah New Yeorka?" Santana says, trying to hold in a laugh.

Brittany stops and looks up at her deadpanned. "What?" And she knows she looks genuinely confused.

"Uhh," Santana says with eyes wide open, "I… uhh… I said 'do I sound like a New Yorker'."

"Oh!" Brittany says and goes back digging into her bag. "You said that funnynee… fun-ally…. fun-li-ly…" Brittany clears her throat and tries again, "You said that weird."

Santana chuckles, "funnily?"

Brittany looks up at her and smiles when she sees the smiles on Santana's face, "Yeah, wasn't that what I said?" They both start laughing.

When the laughter subsides, Santana continues to explain, "I was trying to do a New York accent."

"Oh! Was that what it was? I'm sorry, I've never been to New York so I don't think I've heard that accent before. Although…" Brittany looks up to think for a moment, "I think I've heard Sam do impressions with that accent before."

"Who's Sam?"

"Oh, he's my best friend."

Santana nods, "So, you've never been to New York?"

Brittany shakes her head. "It's on my bucket list though. Maybe one day I can go there to dance or to choreograph or just spend some time vacationing."

They both smile at each other. Brittany had stopped looking for the syllabus long ago. She realized she left it in her room as soon as she began looking for it, not expecting Santana to be here today, but she wanted to get to know her a little better so this was the best way to stall.

"I can't seem to find the syllabus," Brittany says as she fakes looking for it again. "I'll have to make another copy and give it to you at 3."

"Oh! Sure!" Santana says, "No problem, I can always look at Rachel's until then."

"You and Rachel… you're good friends?"

"Nope," Santana answers too quickly, "but I was assigned to be her roommate and well, she's alright I guess. I don't really know her yet."

"I'm sure you'll make some great friends here at this camp," Brittany says with a smile; mostly in regards to herself. She feels a real connection with this Santana girl and hopes maybe, just maybe, she too can make a friend at this camp.

"I hope so," Santana says with a shrug. "Anyway, I should get going. I think I need to take my first of many showers today. I'll see you at 3!"

Brittany smiles when Santana smiles, "I'll see you at 3, Santana."

With that, Santana waves and leaves the studio.

When Brittany gets back to her room she notices a missed call from Sam. She calls him back as she's stripping down to take a shower of her own.

"Hey, Bestie!" Brittany says when Sam picks up. "What's up?"

"Just wanted to see how your first day went."

"Not too bad, I really…" she looks around and notices she's in her own room but whispers anyway, "I really don't like my assistant. She's mean and I don't think she likes listening to me."

"That sucks, Britt. Just do your best I guess."

That's not really the advice Brittany was looking for but she knows Sam's not the best advice consultant either.

"Anyway, other than that the class has been great. We've only done some cardio today but everyone seems to listen well and I haven't had any issues with anyone yet."

"Did your twentieth person show?" Sam asks. Brittany had texted him yesterday telling him she was short one participant but didn't go into too much detail.

"Oh! She did! Her name is Santana and she's from New York and she's really nice!" She said a little bit too excited.

"Oh, really? You seem very enthusiastic about her Britt, she better not take my place as your best friend."

"Of course not! You're my only best friend! Anyway, she did this New York accent that I didn't know it was a New York accent and I think she may think I'm stupid for not knowing it but how am I supposed to know if I've never been to New York? I hope she doesn't think I'm stupid, I really like her and I think we can be friends."

"Sounds like you want to be more than friends," Sam mumbles.

"What?" Brittany furrows her brows and stops looking in her luggage for a clean bra.

"I said I've done the New York accent for you before," Sam says after clearing his throat.

Brittany knows that's not what Sam said originally but she shakes it off, "I know! I said that to her too! I told her my _best friend…"_ she states very clearly, "did an impression with that accent before!"

"Really?" Sam says with joy back in his voice.

"Really! Anyway, I've got to go now. I need to take a shower and grab some lunch before the lunchroom gets too crowded then I have to prepare for the full 2-hour lesson. Oh, and I need to put Santana's syllabus in my folder before I forget," she says and grabs the papers from her notebook and shoves it into her folder.

"Sounds like this girl already has you running around," Sam laughs but Brittany knows it's not a genuine laugh.

"Stop it! She's my student and I'm just glad she made it to class. I wonder why she missed orientation though. Anyway, I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Okay, Britt. I miss you."

"You're so silly, I'm still in L.A.! but I miss you too," she says. She knows Sam will be unhappy if she doesn't say it back.

She hangs up and quickly turns up the music on her phone and plays it while she takes her shower.

* * *

 **Santana POV**

Santana doesn't eat breakfast today. She skipped breakfast in favour of more sleep. Rachel's portable air purifier kept her up until 3am. Rachel woke up at 6am to turn it off, wash up and go for breakfast. That's when Santana was able to actually sleep peacefully.

She wakes up twenty minutes before cardio class and is out the door within fifteen minutes. She's standing next to Rachel, ready to get this class over with when a big buffoon stands in front of her.

"Hey! Andre! Mind if you stand in the back so the rest of us can see the instructor?"

He doesn't answer.

Rachel taps on his back and he turns around, "Excuse me, but would you mind moving to the back of the class so my friend here can see the front?"

The man just shakes his head. "Can't. I have to be up front. I have to learn." He turns back around.

Rachel looks at Santana and shrugs. They're about to move to another part of the room but they hear a voice and that means class has started.

When Big Foot bends down to tie his shoe laces, Santana finally sees the face of her teacher. _She's gorgeous!_ Santana takes in the cat like blue eyes, the slim toned figure, the long smooth legs, the bright shiny blonde hair that's currently swept up into a high pony, the smile. _My god, that smile._ As soon as she thinks her instructor is about to turn her head and make eye contact, Jumbo Jet in front of her stands up and covers her view again. She tries to remember what she saw. She tries to remember the breathtaking features of her dance teacher when something pokes her in the arm. She turns and glares at Rachel.

"It's not polite to ignore your teacher," Rachel whispers.

"What?" Santana whispers back in irritation.

"Your name was just called."

And as soon as Rachel says that, Santana hears her name being called again.

"Santana Lopez?"

"Here!" she says right away.

"Uh, Santana, where are you?"

She raises her hand and steps to the side to poke her head around the tower that won't move. Miss Pierce had told her she wanted to see her after class and normally she finds it incredibly awkward to talk to her teachers, but this was different, she was actually looking forward to the class ending so she can finally talk to her without a wall between them.

The class was hard. The class was fucking hard. It was fun. But, fuck, Santana hasn't sweat like this since cheerleading practices years ago.

Rachel starts talking to Miss Pierce and Santana just rolls her eyes. She wants to talk to her teacher and Rachel is so damn chatty.

"Call me Brittany..." She hears Miss Pierce say.

 _Brittany,_ Santana thinks to herself. _Such fitting name_. _It matches her smile, her voice, her body._ She starts to smile to herself but then drops her lips back down so she doesn't look like a fucking idiot.

She finds out Brittany is 22 years old – which is only one year older than her. _Wow, I really need to get my shit together. She's teaching a class and I have no fucking clue what I'm doing and where I'm going with life._

She doesn't notice when Rachel leaves and she's left standing there staring at Brittany. _She's tall_ , Santana thinks when she realizes she has to slightly tilt her head upward in order to look directly into those baby blues. _Shit!_ She's been staring way too long.

Santana isn't one to make jokes or say anything remotely funny if it's not to insult someone but a stupid New York accent comes out when she finds out Brittany knew where she was from. She feels like a grade _'A'_ idiot when Brittany doesn't get what she was trying to do. She has never wanted to slap herself more than she does right now. Her mind quickly focuses on how cute and endearing Brittany is when she tries to say the work 'funnily.' Santana found it incredibly adorable when Brittany tried three times to say the word. Each time cuter than the last.

When Brittany tells her that she will talk to her again later to give her the syllabus, and then smiles, Santana gets an insane pounding in her chest. _What the fuck is that?_ Her stomach feels empty and full at the same time and her body feels hot and tingly. She decides it must be from the heavy work out and decides to quiet her body down with a shower.

\

3pm rolls around and Rachel, being the go-getter she is, stands right up front and since this is the only person Santana somewhat knows and isn't giving her bitchy death glares, she stands there with her.

When Brittany stands in front of the class, the first thing she does is hand Santana her syllabus and Santana goes to put it next it next to her water bottle and towel before taking her spot again next to Rachel.

Brittany starts them off with a warm up and a few stretches and she goes straight into grooving and then the choreography. There is a lot of footwork that Santana can sort of get. She's more coordinated than most people give her credit for and is probably better than average at this boot-camp, although there are also a few pretty amazing dancers here too. At the first break, Brittany is bombarded by students. Santana notices a group of girls giggling in the corner and when she turns to look at them, she notices the assistant Breanne standing in the middle of the group glancing over at Brittany. She scrunches her brows at that but then continues to drink her water and chat with Rachel and another girl.

The next part of the boot-camp that comes right after choreography is cardio and freestyle that goes non-stop for an hour. At this point, even Santana can hardly stand straight and her limbs feel like jello. Her body can't keep up to the music and the dance floor is covered with droplets of everyone's sweat. Santana finds it kind of gross but at the same time kind of amazing that everyone, including herself, is working so hard. Brittany calls them all into a cypher and they begin to freestyle. Everyone is clapping to the music as they go one by one into the circle and do whatever they want. Most people cheering for each other. Finally, Brittany gets pulled into the middle and Santana knows she's not blinking. The way the girl moves is just flat out mesmerizing. Next thing she knows her hand is taken and gets pulled into the center of the cypher. Brittany winks at her and steps back out joining the rest of the group in the circle, leaving Santana in the middle to freestyle. Brittany cheers and encourages her and Santana tries to remember everything Brittany had taught her in the last hour and did some of those moves. She wiggles her hips and spins in a circle before covering her face in embarrassment and points to a random person in the circle to take her place.

When all is finished, they do a cool down and stretch out before they are dismissed. Once the door is open, a gush of cool hair hits everyone and they all moan in relief not realizing how damp it was in the studio while they were in it. Santana takes a quick glance back into the studio and sees Brittany with a mop, cleaning up the place and wonders where the hell her assistant is. Shrugging because she really doesn't have the energy right now to even think, she rushes back to her room to grab a change of clothes and shower basket so she can wash off the thick layer of sweat clinging on to her.

After she has showered, Santana walks out of the shared bathroom and notices a line up. She smirks at the fact that she managed to get to one of the stalls first. Everyone else is falling asleep sitting on the benches waiting for a stall or looks like a goddamn zombie. Although her body feels numb from the dancing and her mind is foggy and exhausted, she's surprisingly awake.

As she walks towards the main entrance, she notices a car parked on the side with its lights still on. When she turns towards the hall, she sees a freshly showered blonde walking towards her. She smiles and waves and Brittany waves back. A short honk causes both girls to jump and they look out the window.

"The fuck is that?" Santana says as she squints and tries to see past the headlights. A man hops out of the car and Santana jumps again at Brittany squealing in delight.

"Sam!" She bursts out the doors and into the man's arms.

 _Who the fuck is Sam?_ Santana thinks to herself, then remembers that he's the best friend. She can only see Brittany's back, but judging from the face that she can see, they're more than best friends. Sure, Santana has to look really hard but she sees the boy hug the blonde tightly with a huge smile on his face. He hands her something from his pocket and even though Santana can't see it, she knows Brittany is smiling, because that's what Brittany does - at least that's what Santana thinks Brittany does. A wave of something unpleasant hits her when she sees Brittany slip something on her right hand and when she drops her arm to continue talking to the man, she notices a ring around her middle finger. Something sinks in her chest. She sees Brittany tilt her head slightly upward then to the side and her hand goes up to rest on his chin. She can't see the dude's face but from the looks of it, it sure as hell looks like they're kissing. _Why the fuck are they kissing if they're just best friends?_ A wave of recognition hits her when she realizes where her thoughts went to. The fact that her and Quinn do it, why can't Brittany and this Sam guy do it? _Why? Because there aren't any feelings between her and Quinn that's why!_ Without thinking anymore about this awkward situation, all Santana knows is that she can't bear to watch anymore so she turns in heads down the hall towards her room.

Santana thought there was some sort of connection between her and Brittany but boy was she wrong and even then, why would it matter? Why does she feel this strange urge to hit someone or kick something when she sees Brittany kiss some guy? Why did she assume Brittany was attracted to her? Why did she even consider the fact that Brittany was remotely gay? Why? She wasn't attracted to Brittany, she's not gay, kissing Quinn confirmed that. She just thinks Brittany is totally cool and talented. Maybe she just wanted to kiss her like she kissed Quinn because girls' lips are softer. Why is her heart feeling a weird ache telling her that she should be upset? Why the fuck does she want to punch Sam in the fucking face?


	9. Two Sides To Every Story

AN: Are people still enjoying Brittana fanfic? Also, I had a anonymous request to write a prompt. I'm not sure when I got the message but I tried my best to tackle the request. It's more serious than how I usually write so a little bit of feedback would be nice. It's called _Neglect - A Brittany Prompt,_ if ya'll are interested. I haven't had many hits on it so I just want to get it out there. Feel free to post it on your Tumblr if you like ; ) I'd appreciate it. With that said, let _I'll Be Here_ commence.

* * *

 **Brittany POV**

"Sam!"

Brittany bursts out the door, happy to see her best friend. His arms are open awaiting her to crash into them. She gives him a tight hug and as she's about to pull away, he hangs on for just a moment longer.

They talk for a few seconds and Brittany really wants for Sam to come into the building so she can show him around and maybe introduce him to a few of her best students and possibly the super cool one from New York.

Sam reaches into his pocket and pulls something out. She squints at his fist and when he opens his fingers he reveals the ring her parents gave her when she went to her very first dance recital out of town by herself. The recital went very well and since that day she always brought the ring with her whenever she had a recital, competition, or went out of town for something dance related for good luck. It was a simple ring with a tiny sapphire in the center embedded into the band. She had left it at Sam's when she went over a couple days before camp to bake cookies. She didn't want to get dough in it so she took it off and left it in the corner of Sam's counter for safe keeping. She considered long and hard before calling him one day to ask him to bring it over for her when she was unhappy that Breanne wasn't the assistant she had been hoping for. She figured the ring would change her luck and maybe Breanne wouldn't be such a bitch anymore. He was more than happy to oblige.

She slips the ring onto her finger and thanks her bestie. He gives her a smile. "See anything different about me?" He asks.

"Yeah, you have bug or a stain or something on your face," she chuckles.

"Hey! I'm working on something new okay? It's not fully grown out yet."

Brittany lifts her hand and pushes his chin upwards to examine his new goatee.

"It sure is different," she says. "You look older."

"More mature? More manly?" He asks corrects her with a smug look.

"Well, you need to groom it better because you have two pieces of hair that are longer than the rest," she tilts her head to the side and tugs on one of the hairs on the side of his upper lip.

She laughs at him again and asks if he wants a tour of the dorm but as she turns towards the doors she sees Santana walking away with her head lowered. _Was Santana waiting this whole time?_ A feeling of sadness and guilt washes over her.

"On second thought, maybe next time when we have more time, I should get some work done before my class tomorrow."

"Oh, okay," Sam looks a little bummed out at the reversal of the invitation.

"Come by next Wednesday," Brittany says with a smile on her face to cheer him up, "I'll get more work done so I can give you the grand tour and we can hang in my room. It's pretty awesome. I even have a little kitchenette I have been dying to try out; maybe we can cook something!" she says excitedly.

"It's a date!" Sam says excitedly.

She quirks an eye brow at him and her lips are unsmiling.

"Bestie-date!" Sam says after he clears his throat.

"Bestie-date," Brittany repeats and gives him another hug and thanks him once again before heading back into the building.

\

The days pass and things are looking better for Brittany. Her class is a lot more behaved than she expected them to be. In fact, most of the participants are relatively respectful and they follow her strict orders with hardly any attitude. Of course, there are a few here and there that get distracted or are trying to show off skills they don't have, but on the whole, they're all good people. Her only issue is Breanne and three other girls that Breanne seems to be getting along very well with; a little too well. She is more of a distraction to them than she is helpful. She feels her friendship with Santana is slowly growing and Brittany can't help but feel like this girl is something special. She knows the brunette is a year younger than her, is an only child, and usually keeps to herself, but can have a sassy attitude when she needs to. She's also learned that she is in college but has no idea what program she wants to be in so she's taking this boot-camp as a restart in life and is hoping that she will know what she wants when she goes back to New York. The thought of Santana going back to New York, however, kind of bums her out, but she tries to stay positive and believes the two of them will build such a great bond that they will stay friends despite the distance.

At 7 o'clock, Brittany just finishes her shower for the day and looks at her phone and sees a text from Sam stating that he is 5 minutes away. She makes her way to the front entrance and sure enough, she sees him pulling into a parking stall.

"Did you enjoy the sandwich? I made it with your favourite brand of bacon," Sam says as Brittany opens the door to the dance studio.

"You mean _your_ favourite brand of bacon," Brittany chuckles. "This is the dance studio by the way; we spend most of our time here when we aren't running and conditioning outside."

"If I'm not mistaken," Sam says and Brittany turns to look at him, "you told me that you've never had such bacony bacon before I introduced it to you."

Brittany nods in agreement, "Fine, and yes, it was great, thank you, but you really didn't have to drive all the way down here to give me a sandwich, they do serve lunch here, you know?"

"Yeah, but it's like, a taste of home."

"Home isn't far away, Sam," Brittany laughs as they exit the studio and she locks it up again.

The two walk through the main dorm doors and Sam signs in with Dan and gives him his ID.

"I know," Sam says as he follows Brittany down a corridor towards what looks like the cafeteria. "But do they have cupcakes?"

"Actually, they do!" Brittany beams.

Sam pouts but then his eyes brighten right away, "but do they have cookie monster cupcakes?" he says with a pointed finger.

"Ah, that they do not," Brittany says with a shake of the head. "Which, by the way, was delicious as well."

This causes Sam to smile brightly yet again. "Hey, speaking of food, I brought the stuff you asked and I'm getting hungry."

"Yes! Let's go!" Brittany says with a little hop. She takes Sam by the wrist and drags him down the hallway smiling and waving to some of her students; introducing him to some of them as her best friend from college here for a tour.

When they get into her room she starts up a pot of water as Sam puts his knapsack on the table and starts taking out the ingredients to make their not-so-famous-famous-spaghetti; Sam likes to call it.

They chat and chop and chat and cook and chat and eat, then they just sit and chat after finally filling themselves with their homemade dormitory pasta.

They reminisce about the college days and Sam tells her the Artie guy from the music shop still asks about her. She just rolls her eyes and shakes her head with a smile.

"I seriously think you need to come with me to the music shop one more time so he would stop asking me about you," Sam says as he sits back on his chair.

Brittany shrugs.

"He asked me for your number too," Sam mumbles.

Brittany's eyes widen at that, "What did you say? Did you give it to him?"

Sam shakes his head.

"Why not? How do you know I don't want him to have it?" she says with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

Sam's mouth drops, "You mean like... you want to date him?"

"I never said that," Brittany points a finger at him. "But if I remember correctly, he has a cute dorky smile and he seems kind and gentle."

"I'm kind and gentle," he murmurs to himself.

"Aw, don't be jealous," she jokingly messes up his hair, which he always lets her do. "It's just been a while since I've been on a date. Besides, you're supposed to be my wingman, and you suck at it," she laughs.

Sam's face turns a light shade of pink. There's an awkward silence then a knock on the door.

Brittany takes in a deep breath realizing that she may have gone too far with her joking, but she thought that if they're _supposed_ to be best friends that he would want her to find someone to be happy with and that he's _supposed_ to help since she's always trying to find girls for him.

Brittany tries to lighten to mood, "It's okay. Take your time. I know your standards are high for me, you only want the best for me right?" She winks at him and this brings a smile to his face and he nods. Satisfied with making her best friend smile, she gets up to open the door.

Time had passed so quickly that she hadn't noticed it was five past nine. Sam packs up the left over spaghetti and puts it in his knapsack. They quickly follow Dan out to the front office to pick up Sam's ID and sign him out. Sam turns to give Brittany a tight hug once again before turning to leave the building asking for another bestie dinner date in the near future. Brittany responds with, "Next time, give Artie my number and we can celebrate your success as a wingman by making mac n' cheese."

Sam gives a tight lipped smile, a nod, and a light punch on the bicep before exiting the dorm.

Brittany thanks Dan and apologizes once more for losing track of time again. When she turns around she sees Santana emerging from the laundry room with a bag of clothes.

"Hi!" Brittany walks next to her.

"Hey," Santana says with a smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes.

"Laundry day?" Brittany asks, trying her best to start a conversation.

Santana looks down at her bag then up at Brittany. "Looks like it."

"Everything okay?" Brittany asks when she turns to her new friend and notices a slight frown.

"Yeah, I'm fine. So, that guy, your best friend, came for a tour, huh?"

Brittany nods, "Yeah, he's been asking for a tour for a while. Finally gave it to him," she chuckles.

"Had a lot to catch up on?" Santana asks and Brittany notices her fiddling with the top of her laundry bag, scrunching it between her fingers.

"Totally! We did so much catching up that we completely lost track of time. Good thing Dan came knocking or we might've fallen asleep right there on the dining table," Brittany chuckled then yawned.

She sees Santana open her mouth as if to say something but then she just shakes her head and bites her bottom lip. Then Santana immediately finds her words, "This is me. I'll see you tomorrow."

Santana unlocks her room in one swift motion then before Brittany can even say goodnight, the door closes and she's left standing alone in the hallway staring at room 022.

 _Did I say something wrong?_ Brittany wonders. She wants to knock and ask but she figures it's kind of late since they have an early start tomorrow and Santana's roommate Berry might already be asleep. _Maybe Santana was just tired? Maybe I spoke too much and bored her?_ Brittany shrugs and makes her way back to her own room, but a tugging at her heart tells her that she is more upset than usual at the fact that Santana didn't say goodnight than if it were anyone else. Heck, Sam had gotten off the couch to go to his room and sleep in the middle of movie night with no more than yawn and the word 'tired.' Brittany usually just shrugs it off to sleepiness and then shows herself out. But when this girl doesn't say goodnight and just goes to her room to sleep, it's a weird feeling and Brittany doesn't like it. She doesn't like it because it makes her sad.

\

It's Saturday and Brittany left her room early to go to the studio to set up new speakers Dan brought in the night before. It was easier than she thought, so now she's just sitting against the mirror looking up new dance moves and exercises she can show her class. Brittany had noticed that Santana hasn't said much to her the last couple days but has caught her looking her way more than a few times. She sees her talking to Berry but usually just snaps at her for standing too close or that her breathing is too loud. She has no idea what happened that night and is seriously considering calling Santana out on being kind of mean. She's zoning out again on thoughts of a week ago when their friendship was climbing upwards when she hears a loud slam that jolts her out of her daydream.

"Oops, sorry," Breanne giggles and picks up the folder Brittany had given her the first day. "Daydreaming again, huh, Britt?"

"Oh, yeah, um, I was just thinking about what to focus on for today's class."

Breanne walks over to the sitting Brittany and towers over her for the first time since Brittany is usually about four inches taller.

"I would think that for someone who spent so much time thinking about stuff that her class would move on a lot faster than it did."

Brittany scrunches her brows and looks up at her, "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean, your classes are as slow as you are," Breanne says with a smirk and a swivel of the neck.

"Excuse me?" Brittany's face is turning red from both anger and embarrassment.

"Wow, do you really not understand or –"

"Oh hi, excuse me, sorry, am I interrupting?"

Breanne turns her head and Brittany peeks over from staring at her assistant not seeing anyone walk through the doors.

"I know I'm early, but I would like to talk to Miss Pierce about… tonight's class."

Breanne rolls her eyes and walks over to the other side of the studio to rummage through her bag for something.

Brittany's eyes meet concerned brown ones and looks away in embarrassment for a split second before putting the best smile she can, "What can I help you with, Santana?'

"Can I… Umm… There's this move that… Can you come here? I need to show you before I can ask the question." Santana gestures towards the corner furthest away from the assistant. Breanne begins to play some music so Brittany knows she can't eavesdrop on their conversation. She follows Santana to the corner.

"What's up?" Brittany asks.

"Is everything okay?"

Brittany can't help but look over Santana's shoulder at Breanne, who is busy texting and blasting her music.

"Everything is fine," she says with some pep in her voice.

"Are you sure? Because things didn't look fine when I came in, is Breanne being a bitch? Because I tell you," Santana's voice goes softer, "most of us can see that she's a horrible assistant and a complete bitch."

Brittany is quiet, too quiet. _Say something but don't show weakness_. "Nope, all good."

Brittany sees Santana's forehead scrunch and then shakes her head as if she did not at all believe her lie, but then she shrugs. "Okay, well, I'm here to apologize for the other day. I was really tired and… the laundry machine ate a dollar of mine… and… I lost a sock somewhere between washing and drying."

This causes Brittany to smile a little bit.

"I just wanted to crawl into bed and get the evening over with, I'm sorry I was being a bitch."

"Woah, now," Brittany says out loud and sees Breanne look over, "don't… you're not… don't say that about yourself."

Santana chuckles and Brittany feels like that's one of the best sounds she has ever heard in her life.

"Please," Santana says, "you have no idea."

"You're not, trust me. If you were a bitch you wouldn't be apologizing right now, and besides, there's really no need to apologize anyway, you didn't do anything wrong. I completely understand."

The two girls look at each other with smiles gracing their lips as if trying to tell each other something. Movement by the door pulls Brittany out of her staring competition and she clears her throat.

"Looks like it's time to begin, and Santana?"

Santana looks up from what Brittany thinks is her lips.

"We're good, right? I mean, like, we're cool?"

"Absolutely," Santana says and makes her move to join the rest of the class.

Brittany smiles to herself. She sets up her laptop and finds the songs she wants for the class. There's more pep in her step than there was in the past few days and Brittany suddenly realizes that her legs get excited when Santana is around and her insides are doing stupid cute dance moves.

\

The classes are going incredibly well. Everybody but Breanne and her minions are great. Brittany tries her best not to let Breanne's bitchiness get to her. Although, sometimes she wouldn't mind putting that little punk ass in her place.

It's break time and Brittany can't get Santana's smile or giggle out of her head. She's sitting at her dining table eating a sandwich she picked up earlier from the cafeteria when she finally decides it's time. It's time for her to stop thinking and start acting. She's going to ask Santana to hang out with her tomorrow on their day off. The girl is from New York and probably doesn't know where to go or what to do, so it's the perfect opportunity to show her around and get to know her better while she's at it.

She steps out of her room after finishing her sandwich and locks her door. While walking down the hallway she sees a few people here and there but knows most of them are probably outside or in the cafeteria.

She sees the girl she's looking for, glad she doesn't need to go knocking on her door, but she's also on the phone. She decides to casually walk by her and wait for her to finish. Just as she walks by she hears a part of her conversation that abruptly makes her heart clench.

"Q, I miss you too. I'll try my best to call or text you more, okay? I'm sorry…"

It's too late, she's already walking that direction. She can't turn back now. She makes eye contact with Santana so she forces out a half smile and Santana responds with a more real smile and a wave.

Brittany feels a little lost now so she goes up to Dan and asks him for a laundry coin. He gives one to her and she walks back to her room, not even hearing Dan tell her that the laundry room is down the other hall.

Brittany takes a deep breath when she sees Santana still talking to whoever this 'Q' person is. She tries to not let her see her sadness or disappointment. In fact, Brittany tries not to let her see her at all so she walks right on by.

Bad timing, yet again.

"I know, and you're mine too. I love you too. Get some rest okay?..."

This time, her heart plummets and she can't help but pick up her pace just slightly in order to get to her room and shut the world out a bit faster. Brittany closes her room door and tosses the coin onto the dining table and it rolls and hits her half glass of juice.

 _What the fuck is wrong with me? Why am I feeling this way? Why did I feel a connection and not just a friendly one._

Brittany is now glad that after today is done, she doesn't have to see Santana for 24 hours. This will give her time to sort her thoughts out and get these stupid feelings out of her stupid head, if that's even possible.

The last class of the day goes by relatively smoothly. She worked everyone hard, because she herself wanted to work hard and look at Santana less. Breanne made a few comments about how insane Brittany was working them, saying something about Brittany having more stamina than smarts, but the blonde just clenched her fist for a second and continued working everyone's asses off, pretending she didn't hear her. A quick glance through the mirror, she sees Santana looking at her with sympathetic eyes at Breanne's comment but she brushes it off and continues with her lesson. She doesn't stay to chat with anyone. She doesn't give out words of encouragement or inspiration like she usually does. Her back flinches with pain due to the hefty work out but she grinds her teeth and only takes a couple seconds to pause before she starts up again. She grabs her laptop and her bag before yelling out, "That's it for today. Have a good weekend everyone. See you Monday!" with as much gusto as she can muster in her horrible mood.

"Holy hell, what the eff was that? Something has made that girl mental today."

Brittany recognizes the voice to be Breanne's but continues to walk away towards the dormitory doors. She hears someone respond to her but she doesn't stop to listen. All she wants is to get back to her room, take a shower, and put some goddamn ice on her back.

* * *

 **Santana POV**

The weekend arrives and the dancers get one day off. They're on their mid-day break and tomorrow Santana wants to explore some of the city. She's resting on her bed reading through the syllabus for the day and Rachel somehow found some Broadway musical on television. Her phone rings and she reaches over to her night stand to grab it. She sees her best friend's photo light up on the screen.

"Hi, Quinn!"

Quinn says something unrecognizable. She sounds drunk.

"Dude, are you drunk? It's not even 2 in the afternoon."

 _"I mizzu S'ana. Like, a lat,"_ Quinn slurs out.

"I miss you too, Quinn, but why have you been drinking so early? Is something wrong? Is everything okay?" Santana knows that, unlike herself, Quinn only drinks when there's a lot on her mind.

 _"Yeahhh…" she pauses, "Noooooo… I'm not."_

"What is it? Tell me." Santana says as she walks out of the room and into the hallway so she can hear Quinn more clearly without background music and Rachel singing along to it.

 _"Nothing… you're jest… you're jest ober dere and I ober here."_

"Mhm, I am over here and you're over there," Santana repeats, still not understanding why Quinn has been drinking.

" _EXACTLY_!" Quinn screams into the phone and Santana has to pull the phone away from her ear for a moment.

"Exactly what, Q?

There's silence on the other end and Santana is straining her ears to see if Quinn is still there.

" _Exactly is why I mizz yew_ ," Quinn slurs.

Santana can hear the crack in the other girls voice and she feels sad for her. She's been here dancing and trying to get to know people (mostly Brittany) and she's almost forgotten about her best friend at home other than a few texts here and there. Usually she's away from her phone all day until since there's no Wi-Fi and she doesn't want to use up her data, and by the time she gets back from the final class of the day and takes a shower she's tired as hell and responds the best she can to Quinn and her mother's text before falling asleep.

"Q, I miss you too. I'll try my best to call or text you more, okay? I'm sorry, I've been so busy with this boot-camp I hardly even talk to my mom anymore."

Santana senses a presence walk past her and she looks up. She and Brittany make eye contact for a split second. Brittany gives a half smile and Santana waves as she watches Brittany walk towards the front desk before trying to concentrate on the sounds that are supposed to be words coming out of her best friend's mouth.

 _"K… I loave you best fren. You're ma best fren. N I want yous back here nex to me."_

Santana sighs. She can't be there for her best friend but the best thing she can do right now is acknowledge what she's saying and hope that she gets some rest. "I know, and you're mine too. I love you too. Get some rest okay? Drink lots of water and have some painkillers ready for after you wake up."

At that moment, Brittany walks by again. Santana looks up to make eye contact but Brittany just walks straight by with a blank look on her face. She looks a little pissed off and somewhat upset. She wonders what happened over at the front desk that managed to piss her usually cheery teacher off.

 _"Ooohhh K. G'night Santana."_

Santana chuckles because it's just passed 2pm now. "Goodnight."

She goes back into her room and she sees Rachel dancing and singing. She rolls her eyes and throws her phone onto her bed before climbing up onto it. She has about half an hour before she has to go to her last class. Then tomorrow she gets to rest. She flops her arm over her face and tries to relax while her roommate is dancing to a dramatic Broadway song.

She thinks about Brittany. She thinks about how awesome she is. She thinks about how talented and smart she is. How great of a teacher she has been and how Sam is so lucky to have her. _Fuck Sam_. Her eyebrows furrow under her arm. Sam had come to the camp three out of the five days and Santana has seen him all three days. He's always here with either a fucking cupcake or a stupid sandwich. He's always giving the blonde the tightest most disgustingly sweet hugs that linger way too long for it to be normal. Although she hasn't seen them kiss since the first evening, she has convinced herself that they were doing it when Brittany took him into her room the last time he was here and they were in there doing God knows what until they had to lock the dorm doors. Santana wonders why she's feeling this way. Why does she hate Sam so damn much. What is this bullshit feeling? She comes to the conclusion that it's because Sam is so close to Brittany, and she feels like Brittany is such a wonderful person that she would like to have someone like Brittany in her life…. As a friend, of course.

The thoughts of Sam irritate her so much she snaps at Rachel to shut up. Rachel looks at her like deer caught in headlights and closes her mouth. She continues watching the show but silently until both of them need to go the studio.

\

Santana walks into class 10 minutes early, hoping to get a few words in with Brittany, but for the first time this week, her instructor isn't there yet. Breanne is talking to a few girls who have been hanging off of her like a dog on a chew toy, and other are starting to gather in with no sight of her instructor yet. There's 5 minutes left and she's worried that Brittany won't show up. When almost everyone is in the studio chatting away, the door opens quietly and there she is. Beautiful, blonde, and kind of upset. Santana frowns at the sight. She is a second away from asking Brittany what is wrong when a hand grabs on to her wrist and pulls her to the other side. Apparently, Rachel found the perfect spot and wants to share it with her. She turns quickly and fixes her gaze on Brittany again, but now, class is about to start and Brittany is busy plugging everything into her laptop with no help from Breanne.

\

The class was hard. The hardest it has been so far. Brittany literally rocked their socks off. Like, some people actually had to take their socks off after class because their feet were overheating. Wanting to talk to Brittany, but also a little bit afraid, Santana stands in one corner of the room water bottle in hand. When she finally decides to take a step towards the blonde, the girl picks up her bag and leaves after telling everyone to have a good weekend and that she'll see them on Monday.

 _But I don't want to see her on Monday,_ Santana thinks to herself. _I want to see her tomorrow._

She can't do much but watch as her opportunity to get to know Brittany better walks away.

"Holy hell, what the eff was that? Something has made that girl mental today," Breanne says as she walks to the front of the class.

Just the sound of Breanne talking about Brittany like that pisses Santana off. Something is wrong and something is upsetting Brittany and instead of being a good assistant she talks about her behind her back and it's not the first time Santana has heard it.

"Well, I'd go mental too if I had you for an assistant," Santana utters loud enough for everyone to hear.

The room goes silent except for a few _"oohs"_ and Santana doesn't stay to explain herself. Breanne is caught off guard and doesn't seem to be responding so Santana grabs her towel and bottle and walks out of the room, Rachel trailing behind her.

\

Back in her room, Rachel looks like she wants to speak but once they make eye contact, her mouth closes. Santana is finally able to render her speechless. She internally nods to herself. Rachel takes her toiletry bag and change of clothes and is out the door, leaving Santana with her thoughts.

She mulls over either calling the blonde and asking her what the fuck is wrong or just giving the girl some space and try to find her in the morning. She must have spaced out for a while trying to make the decision that Rachel comes back into the room clean and fresh.

"Is everything okay?" Rachel asks.

"Yeah, of course. Why?" Santana replies while sitting on the edge of her bed, still wearing her dirty sweaty clothes and the sweat on her hair had begun to dry.

"First of all, you're usually the first one out to use the showers. Second, the way you spoke to Breanne, aren't you afraid of what she might say or do to you in future classes?"

Santana shakes her head, "I'm not afraid of her. She's a bitch and she shouldn't have said that about Brittany when she has been a completely useless assistant to begin with."

"What was up with Brittany today anyway?" Rachel says as she brushes her hair.

Santana glares at her, but when she realized that Rachel was not trying to be offensive she just shrugs, "Don't know. Didn't seem happy. I wish I knew."

There is silence between the two of them and when Santana looks up, she weirded out that Rachel is looking at her like she had just figured something out.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that, creepy much?"

"Do you like her?"

"Who?"

"Brittany."

"What?"

"Do you like her?"

"I… well, yeah, she's a good teacher and she's nice, usually, and professional and I think I can learn a lot from her."

Rachel shakes her head as if Santana just answered the question completely wrong.

"I mean, do you like – like her?"

Santana squints her eyes at her and something in her chest or in her stomach, she's not really sure, is making her feel very uncomfortable.

"What are you talking about? You're weird, man."

"First off, not a man. Secondly, I just want you to know that I am completely accepting and open minded considering I want to be on Broadway one day I am definitely open to all genders and sexual preferences. I mean, not myself, I'm straight, but like, I mean I don't judge."

"The fuck you talking about?" With Rachel's long winded speech, the weird feelings in her body all went away and now she's just frustrated so she grabs her bag and clean clothes and leaves the room.

As the water rains down over Santana's head, all the stuff Rachel said keep circling in her brain.

 _Shit._

* * *

Thanks for reading. I love all my readers, but you know that already. XOXOXO comments? Reviews?


	10. Sunday Funday

AN: Thanks for your patience! Here is the longest chapter so far for this story. Enjoy!

* * *

 **Santana POV**

Santana wakes up too early the next morning. She's so used to waking up at 7 that her internal alarm automatically turns on. Rachel had asked her last night if she wanted to go for breakfast with her and another two people this morning but she was so sure she was going to sleep in and denied Rachel's invitation.

Santana remembers she needs to buy another pair of headphones so she decides to get up and ask Dan for directions to the nearest mall or electronics store. She grabs her bag and heads to the washroom. To her luck, there is a line up, so she sits and waits. Seems like most of the girls in the dorm want to get an early start on their day off and enjoy the freedom.

15 minutes later, Santana is finally in the shower. When she's finished she goes back to her room to put on her make-up and grab a few items before going out to look for Dan. However, when she gets to the front desk, Dan is nowhere to be seen.

"Shit", Santana whispers to herself and just waits at the desk, leaning her elbows on the counter as she looks at his empty chair not knowing how long Dan is going to take or if he's even working today. Unfortunately, Santana hasn't made any friends other than Rachel and Brittany, and since she was a little bit of a bitch yesterday, she doesn't think anyone would want to help her out.

"He's off today," she hears a voice float from behind her.

She turns around and Brittany is standing there with her hair down for the first time and in jeans and a simple v-neck tank top.

"Oh," Santana says and looks down at her feet. She looks back up and sees that Brittany is waiting for something. She has her head tilted with a patient yet confused look on her face. Santana decides she might as well ask her. "Do you know if there is a mall or like, an electronics store nearby?"

Brittany thinks for a moment, as if trying to decide something rather than thinking about directions.

"Actually, I was thinking about heading to the mall too, in about 10 minutes. If you don't mind waiting and if you want to, I can take you there," Brittany says as she chews on her inner lip while looking anywhere but Santana's eyes.

"I would like that actually," Santana says and Brittany looks up at her with a smile. "I can pay for the taxi."

Brittany laughs, "I mean, I definitely wouldn't mind if you tip the driver."

Santana gives her a puzzled look.

"…and by driver, I mean me," Brittany points to herself. "I have a car."

Santana's mouth drops and her eyes are wide suddenly realizing that Brittany probably lives in town.

"Oh! Um, yeah, sure! That would be great! If you don't mind me tagging along, of course. "

"If I minded, I wouldn't ask," Brittany sends her a wink that just about kills her. "Give me 10 minutes, I have to grab a few things and make a quick phone call first."

Santana nods, "I'll wait for you outside."

\

Almost exactly 10 minutes later, Brittany comes out and Santana follows her to her car. She has a little black Prius. A simple but practical car. When Brittany unlocks the doors, Santana hops into the passenger seat. The first thing she notices is the smell. It smells nice. It smells clean and fresh with a hint of sweetness.

"Sorry if my car is a mess," Brittany says leaning over and throwing a jacket into the back seat along with a binder and an empty plastic bag.

"It's not. Don't even worry about it. It's a lot cleaner than most of the cars I've been in." Santana finds it cute that Brittany is scrambling with one hand to clean the car. "Seriously, Britt. It's fine. Trust me."

Brittany's eyes look up into hers and is searching for something. Apparently she finds it because she gives a small smile and nods.

As Brittany is pulling out of her spot, Santana is looking at the little charm dangling from her rear-view mirror. It's a little boom box, with little jewels along it's edges and attached to the bottom is a pair of tiny charm high-tops. It's the cutest thing she has ever seen. Brittany is the cutest person she has ever met. _What?_

"What do you need to buy?" Brittany asks, pulling her away from her thoughts.

"Huh? Oh! Um, headphones. Mine broke on my flight here and since Rachel likes to constantly sing to Broadway show tunes every moment she's in the room, it would be nice to drown her out. Maybe I need to get noise cancelling headphones," she nods to herself, "Yes, I'll get a good pair of noise cancelling headphones."

Brittany laughs.

"You laugh now, Brittany, but I'm serious. One can only take so much "I'll march my band out, I'll beat my drummmmmm… Seriously, I don't even know that song and I already know the lyrics and melody to that damn song because I swear to fucking god that she sings it every damn night."

"Woah, what was that?" Brittany asks and glances over at Santana before focusing back onto the road.

"Sorry, I tend to swear a lot."

"No, I don't care about the swearing but… wow, what was that?"

"What was what?"

"That! Your singing."

"Oh what? That? That wasn't singing, I was just imitating Rachel."

"I'm… impressed," Brittany says with a smile on her face.

"At what?"

"Your singing abilities."

Santana chuckles, "What singing abilities?"

"For real? You don't hear it?" Brittany says as she shoulder checks and changes lanes.

Santana shrugs even though Brittany probably can't see her. "Not really, it was literally two lines."

"Sing it again."

"No."

"Sing it again!" Brittany is getting way too excited for someone who should have their full attention on the road.

Santana can feel herself blushing, "No, now I'm shy."

"Oh, please, Santana," Brittany begs in the cutest voice ever.

"No, I forgot the song already."

Brittany pouts.

 _What the fuck is that? I need to stop looking at it, it's so cute. I can't stop looking at that bottom lip. My fucking god, she's adorable. I want to take that bottom lip between my own and… what the fuck? No._ "Stop pouting."

"I'm not pouting," Brittany says as she continues pouting.

"Yes you are. Stop it!" Santana is trying her best not to giggle and tries to make the girl smile again.

"I'm pouting as much as you are an amazing singer."

Santana opens her mouth to argue, but then closes it. She just lost.

\

Brittany parks her car after Santana changes the conversation subject hoping Brittany wouldn't ask her to sing again.

They get out and walk into the mall together. It's a pretty big mall, and the air conditioning is definitely welcome. The first place they go to is the electronics store where Santana finds a decently priced pair of noise cancelling headphones and is about to purchase it but Brittany stops her and takes out her phone to find some reviews on the brand. She shows her the rating of 2 stars out of 5 and Santana puts the headphones away and they both look together with Santana picking out the ones that look nice, are comfortable, and affordable and Brittany checking all their reviews. She ends up going with something a little more expensive but with a rating of 4.8 stars and they are comfortable as heck.

"I like to do my research for electronics because sometimes it's hard to return them, especially headphones," Brittany says as they walk out of the store. "I need good headphones to work out and dance in, I need the music to really run through me and crappy ones that are uncomfortable or have a tinny sound just won't cut it."

"Wow, you sure take your music seriously."

"I do," Brittany nods, "I live off of it."

Santana nods in agreement. "Where are we off to now?"

"I need to do a few things actually. They're kind of boring, so you can go shopping around here if you want and I'll meet you in a couple hours, or you can come with me and be bored."

Santana thinks about it for a moment, and as much as she would love to shop, she doesn't have the money and she really doesn't want to lug more items back to New York than she needs to. "I'll go with you."

"Alright, well, I need to pick up a prescription, make a few more photocopies of next week's workout plan since a bunch of them got ruined when my water bottle exploded in my back pack and soaked through half my papers, and I need to buy a new water bottle."

Santana nodded. They started walking towards the pharmacy when Santana said, "Couldn't you have just made photo copies at the dorm?"

"The dorm doesn't have a photo copier," Brittany replies with a shrug.

Santana thinks for a moment as her eyes squint to remember, "… but didn't you make a photocopy of the syllabus for me on my first day?"

Brittany goes to open her mouth to answer but nothing comes out. Santana sees a tinge of red glow from her cheeks and she finds it adorable.

"I… no, no, you must have mistaken… I didn't make you a copy, I said I would grab you another copy," Brittany said as she nodded to herself. Santana doesn't believe her but she shrugs and takes her word for it. Maybe it's possible she heard wrong that day.

They get to the pharmacy and Brittany quickly hands over her prescription and they wait about 5 minutes before Brittany picks it up in a little white paper bag.

"What is that for?" Santana asks curiously.

"Ummm…" Brittany starts, but she looks nervous and a little embarrassed so Santana decides not to pry.

"Don't worry about it, it's not my business. I'm sorry, I shouldn't be so nosy."

"No, it's okay," Brittany says. "It's just something for an old injury."

Santana frowns when she hears the news. "Is it anything serious?"

Brittany shakes her head with a smile, "Nah, it's just a precaution."

Santana nods again, but again, she doesn't fully believe the blonde.

Next, Brittany goes to the copy center and makes a few copies of the work out plan and hands one to Santana with a wink.

 _What the fuck was that?_ That wink is seriously sending tingles to Santana's special places. A simple fucking wink!

On their way to sports store to buy Brittany another water bottle, a large figure comes up behind them and jumps on Brittany from behind. Brittany squeaks out loud and Santana is seconds away from socking whoever it is in the jaw when Brittany turns around and a smiles breaks over her face.

 _Oh geez,_ Santana thinks, _Sam-fucking-tastic!_

"Sam, what are you doing here?" Brittany smiles at him when he lets go of her.

"Well, when you told me you had to cancel on our plans to hang out in your dorm room because you had errands to run at the mall, I thought I'd come by the mall too in hopes to bump into you, and here you are!" Sam says with a smile way too big for his face.

"You're silly." Brittany glances over at Santana. "By the way, Sam, this is Santana from New York. Santana this is Sam."

"From L.A.," Sam says with a cheesy grin and sticks out his hand.

Santana slowly takes his hand and shakes it.

Sam and Brittany talk while they look for a new water bottle. Santana can tell that Brittany is trying to include her into their conversation by asking about her family and friends back home and by bringing up New York every so often, but it's obvious to her that Sam is trying to divert the conversation back to him. She gets it. They're best friends, of course they have a lot to talk about but that doesn't mean she likes it. She's just waiting for Sam to go away.

They make their way to the food court after Brittany makes her final purchase and they each go their own way for food. Santana sees Sam follow Brittany around like a little puppy and it makes her roll her eyes. Today was supposed to be their day. It was supposed to be the day she got to know Brittany more, not the day she constantly gets interrupted by Big Mouth Bass.

Santana buys herself a chicken burger and fries. She walks by a little stall selling super cute cupcakes and decides to buy one for Brittany to thank her for driving her to the mall. She looks at all the different flavours and designs but when she sees one particular one it just screams _Brittany_ , so she gets it. It's placed in a cute box that fits it perfectly. It costs way too much for flour, butter, and a shit ton of sugar, but she can't wait to see the look on the blonde's face when she opens it.

They meet up at a table and Santana rolls her eyes when Sam pulls out a chair for Brittany. She swears she saw Brittany roll her eyes too.

Sam bought a massive beef burger and Santana admits she's impressed he can actually fit it into his mouth. Brittany has two slices of pizza on her tray.

"What's that?" Brittany asks and points to the box sitting next to Santana's plate.

She looks over at Sam then back down to the box then back up to Brittany. She doesn't know why she suddenly feels nervous to give it to her when she was so confident to buy it.

"Umm, actually it's for you," she says and gracefully hands the box to Brittany.

Brittany's brows furrow in confusion and she tilts her head in that ridiculously cute way. "For me?" She wipes her hand on the napkin and accepts the box.

"It's to thank you for driving me here and spending the day with me." She throws a quick glare at Sam and sees him return one back to her.

Brittany bites her bottom lip and wiggles a little bit. "Can I open it now?"

Santana shrugs and gestures for her to do whatever she wants.

Brittany eagerly opens the box and her eyes widen, her face brightens and Santana can't help but join her in the huge smile she's sporting.

"Oh my gosh, Santana! This is the cutest thing EVER! Thank you!"

Santana can't stop smiling and she can feel herself blushing, even though no one else can see it. She wants to say _you're welcome_ but her mouth is just too damn busy smiling.

Sam peeks over and Brittany tilts it to show it off to him.

"It's a unicorn, Sam! Look! It's so cute! It's perfect!" She beams when she looks at Santana once again. "How did you know I love unicorns?"

Santana shrugs once again, "I didn't. I saw it and I thought it suited you, so I bought it."

Sam doesn't look as happy as either girls. "It's cool," he says with a fake smile. "But cookie monsters are just as cool, right, Britt?"

Brittany doesn't stop looking at her cupcake. It's a lemon cupcake with pink, blue, and purple frosting, cute round eyes, ears, and a horn made out of sugar. She nods at what Sam said, clearly hearing what he said, but then to Santana's delight Brittany shoves the box up to his face again, "BUT IT'S A UNICORN!" she says proudly.

Santana can't help but chuckle at her loveable attitude.

"I see that," is all Sam can say and slowly pushes it down away from his face.

Brittany closes the box and gently puts it on the side and they all casually go back to their lunches. It's a lot quieter than before. Sam isn't talking as much but Santana does notice him looking between them a lot. She feels his eyes burning a hole into her skull.

"Oh, San!"

Both Santana and Sam look up at Brittany.

Brittany covers her mouth to stop her giggle, "I said San, not Sam." Sam goes back to picking at his fries. "There's a small lemonade shop on the way back to camp, if you're interested, I'll take you there. I loved going there with my sister during the summer. They have ice cream too."

"Yeah," Santana nods, "that would be cool."

There's an awkward silence and Santana assumes it's because Sam is waiting for an invite he never gets. Brittany looks at her watch and nudges Sam. "Don't you have band practice at 2 o'clock?"

"Yeah?"

"It's 1:40."

"Shit!" Sam wipes his mouth and tosses the napkin onto his tray. "I gotta go, I still have to go home to get my guitar." He jumps up and looks at Santana, "Nice to meet you, Santana from New York." He then turns to Brittany, "Call you later?"

Brittany shrugs, "Sure!"

Sam leaves without putting his tray away and again Santana rolls her eyes. She's been doing that so much today that she feels like her eyes might roll out of their sockets.

"So, Sam plays in a band?"

Brittany nods, "Just a little garage band with a few friends."

They talk about Brittany's relationship with Sam about how they met to how they became best friends. Santana won't lie, she felt parts of her insides clench when Brittany mentioned they they dated back in college for a few months. She asked her if she would ever consider dating Sam again in the future. She didn't know but she was holding her breath while she waited for Brittany to answer.

With a confident shake of the head, Brittany says, "No. I don't see him like that anymore. He's a sweet guy and I love him, but not like that." She shakes her head to verify those words, "No."

"But you know he still likes you, right?" Santana has no idea why she's asking or why she's doing this to herself. It only makes her inside feel acidic when she talks about Sam, but a part of her just really wants to know.

Brittany bites the inside of her cheek and nods lightly. "Yeah, I know, but I think he understands our friendship is strictly platoon."

"Platoon?"

"You know, like, we're just friends."

"Platonic?"

Brittany blushes shyly, "Yeah, that."

Santana nods, not thinking anything of Brittany's mistake. It happens.

Brittany takes another peek into the box that houses the cupcake.

"Are you going to eat it?"

Brittany frowns, "It's too cute to eat."

"Well, you gotta eat it! I bought it for you to eat and enjoy, not to look at," Santana says with a laugh.

Brittany wiggles her head side to side as if considering Santana's request.

"Would you take the first bite? I can't get myself it do it."

This makes Santana smile, "You're cu – silly, but yes. If it will get you to eat it while it's still fresh, then yes."

Brittany pulls the cupcake carefully out of the box and lifts it towards Santana's mouth. Not knowing whether Brittany is feeding her or just handing it to her, she decides to take the safe route and lift her hands to take the cupcake from her, but Brittany shakes her head. "Take a bite."

Santana takes a small bite, just grazing the icing and taking hardly any cake.

"Come on, take a bigger bite!"

So she does, she takes a bigger bite and she actually gets one eye, a lot of icing and a mouthful of cake. She also knows she has blue frosting on her nose and around her lips. She tries to lick it off but ends up having to use her finger to wipe the rest of it off her nose and the edges of her lips. She licks her finger, because damn, that's good frosting.

Brittany's just staring at her.

"What? Do I still have frosting on my face?"

"Huh? Uh, oh, no. I mean, yes, on your left cheek." Santana reaches over to grab a napkin and wipes her cheek. "Okay, it's gone," Brittany says and looks back down at her now mangled dessert.

She too takes a big bite and gets purple frosting on her nose and pink frosting on her cheek. Santana can't help but laugh.

"Oh my God!" Brittany says with a mouthful, "This is so good!" She takes another bite without first wiping her mouth and Santana covers her mouth to stop from laughing out too loud. _Damn she's adorable._

Brittany picks out the horn and holds it up to Santana's lips. She takes it and Brittany goes back to polishing off her gift. Finally, Brittany finishes and has to use two napkins and Santana's used one to get all the frosting off her face.

They clean up the mess they made and throw away their garbage. Santana follows Brittany back out to the car, talking all the way there about nothing and everything at the same time. Santana hasn't been this happy for a while. Like, genuinely happy not just momentarily happy like when someone compliments her or when she has a few too many beers with Quinn. She's glad the day isn't over. She's glad that they still have another place to go before going back to the dorm where she doesn't know if she's allowed to be close to Brittany – close to the instructor, or even worse, if Brittany will have issues with it.

* * *

 **Brittany POV**

 _There she is,_ Brittany thinks to herself. She sees Santana standing by the desk waiting for someone. She feels guilty about what happened yesterday. She's not usually that easily upset and a part of her blames it on PMS, but at the same time she knows a part of it is because of what she overheard earlier in the afternoon. She shouldn't have taken it out on the class, but with everything added up including Santana's conversation with 'Q', Breanne being a bitch, PMS, and having her phone constantly buzzing with texts from Sam asking her umpteen amount of questions, she just snapped. She took it out on the everyone else and made them work their very sore butts off and pretty much stormed out of the studio after the lesson. She did hear Breanne say something and was a second away from turning around and giving her a piece of her mind, she decided it wasn't cool since they would still have to work together for another 6 weeks.

She realizes she's been staring and Santana is still waiting, probably for Dan. Santana probably doesn't know that Dan is off today so she decides to suck it up and tell her.

"He's off today."

She turns around and the smell of Santana's perfume, or shampoo, or hairspray, or natural scent or a mixture of all of it fills Brittany's nostrils and she finds herself breathing it in deeper. They talk for a bit and finds out Santana needs to go to the mall, which makes it the perfect opportunity to get to know her better. Sure, she was supposed to meet up with Sam today but nothing was confirmed. She figures she should let him know she has errands to run and can't hang before his band rehearsal.

Sam sounded a little bit disappointed on the phone but she explained to him that there was stuff she needed to get done and that she'll make it up to him by buying him lunch the following weekend.

Brittany remembers how messy her car is by the time Santana takes a seat. She's scrambling to clean the mess. She's embarrassed. She really hopes it doesn't smell bad and that she's just used to the smell of trash.

"Seriously, Britt. It's fine, trust me."

The nickname snaps Brittany's eyes up to meet Santana's. The way she said it sounded so smooth, so… so perfect. She smiles and nods because how can she argue with that? Just, how?

Santana is so cute the way she's looking at the charm that's hanging from her rear view mirror. A few moments later it happens. The sexy, sultry voice with perfect pitch. If Santana sang any more bars of that song Brittany was sure she would have rear-ended the car in front of her. But no matter what, Santana refuses to sing any more. She knows Santana changed the subject to get out of singing again, so she'll let it go for now, but it doesn't mean she'll forget what a voice this girl has.

\

 _Shit,_ she just blew her cover on the non-existent copy machine at boot-camp. How is she supposed to tell Santana she was so into talking to her that she made up the fact that she was still searching for her syllabus and that she lost it and would make her another copy for the afternoon. How was she supposed to tell her that she was so focused on the dimple on her cheek that she had no idea what words were actually coming out of her mouth. So, she just makes some lame excuse about Santana mishearing what she says and leaves it at that.

They go to pick up her prescription but she's not ready to tell Santana what it's for yet. She hasn't told anyone about her back pain and spasms. The only people who know are her parents because they're the ones that put her on the medication and a few dance friends that were there when she collapsed in pain one time and no one could move her for 15 minutes and her dad was called to provide help. She doesn't like to tell people, not even Sam because to Brittany _pain is weakness_ and she doesn't like to show weakness or else people end up walking all over her.

Sam joins them by surprise and they end up walking to the food court together. Santana is a little quiet, so Brittany tries her best to bring her new friend into the conversation, but Sam – the oblivious man that he is – keeps bringing the conversation back to either himself or Brittany.

Brittany loves Sam, she does, but sometimes she just needs him to leave. He needs to get the hint that she's trying to get to know Santana and their new friendship is still fragile.

Her eyes meet Santana's and she sees the girl coming towards the table they had chosen. Santana bought herself a chicken burger, fries, and a box of… Brittany has no idea what's in the box. Maybe it's some sort of dessert or prize or toy that came with her meal. If it's a toy, that would be awesome, she would have gone to that food stall instead. So, Brittany just asks.

When Santana states that the box is a gift for her, Brittany's stomach flutters and her heart is jumping from excitement. She opens it and it's the cutest thing ever! She loves unicorns! She used to have a unicorn collection when she was in elementary school, but when her sister started playing with them, her parents thought it was time for Brittany to let go of the childish toys. It made her sad, she managed to keep and hide her favourite stuffed unicorn, but everything else was given to her sister or was donated to charity. The lack of colour and happiness in her room that the unicorns brought instigated Brittany to dance more, so dance she did.

It was as if Santana had known and she can't help but beam at her new friend. She feels Sam look over her shoulder at what it is so she tilts it towards him, "It's a unicorn, Sam! Look! It's so cute! It's perfect!"

"I didn't know you liked unicorns," Sam whispers in her ear and Brittany just shrugs not wanting to explain the entire story. At least not now. Speaking a little louder this time, Sam says with a little bit of apprehension in his voice, "It's cool, but cookie monsters are just as cool, right, Britt?"

Brittany internally sighs. _Why does Sam have to be this way?_ She tries to ignore him and just focus on the adorable, delicious looking cake in her hands. She's appreciating the colours and smell of the little treat when she senses a little bit of tension in the air and both parties are staring at her, waiting for her to speak. She glances over at Santana again and the girl is biting her lip and trying her best to look away at her best friend's judgemental glare so she decides to be honest with him, "BUT IT'S A UNICORN!" she says as she pushes up towards him again with a big smile on her face.

By the time Sam leaves for band practice she feels a slight weight lifted off her shoulder. She really hopes Sam understands that she's not trying to push him away, well, kind of, a little bit, but it's nothing personal. She just doesn't have much time during the week to get to know Santana very much and this is her best chance to leave a good impression, so she does what she must and will have a chat with Sam later.

Upon Brittany's request, Santana takes the first bite out of the cupcake. A tiny, itty bitty wimp-ass bite. So, Brittany tells her to take a bigger one and that's when she feels a weird flutter just above her belly button. Santana has icing all over her face and it's the cutest thing she has ever seen. All this time she has thought of Santana to be kind of cool and mysterious with a sexy persona but never cute. Now, with the blue icing on her nose and her cheek and the big toothy smile across her face, she's surprised to feel like their friendship can be brought to a whole new level. But then Santana licks her fingers and that's when another type of flutter tickles Brittany. It tickles her quite a bit lower than her belly button and she subconsciously crosses her legs.

"Do I still have frosting on my face?"

Brittany had been caught staring. No, Santana doesn't have frosting on her face but she needs an excuse for staring so she tells her she does.

They finish the cupcake, making a complete mess of the napkins and Brittany leads the way to her car where they start their journey back to camp. First, stopping at the lemonade shop Brittany promised.

"Do you have a boyfriend back home?" Brittany asks when they're sitting on a picnic bench outside the restaurant; each with a flavoured lemonade in hand.

Santana smiles and shakes her head. "Do you?"

"Back home?" Brittany asks with seriousness across her face. "I am home."

Santana laughs, "No, I mean like, in general. Do you have a boyfriend?"

Brittany shakes her head too, "Sam has been trying to wingman it up for me and some guy at the music store he goes to has been trying to get my number but, other than that, nope, no action." A bit of silence falls between them and she's wondering what Santana is thinking. She has a question floating around in her mind and she wonders if she should ask it. She wonders if it would offend her if she asks but Brittany isn't one to hold back much when she's curious so she takes a deep breath and… "Well, the other day I overheard you on the phone and don't get me wrong, I wasn't eavesdropping or anything, I just happened to walk by but you were sounding a little lovey dovey on the phone so that's why I wondered if you had a boyfriend or like, maybe like, it could be, but I mean, I'm really cool with everything and stuff, and so since you said you didn't have a boyfriend, it could possibly be a best friend, right? Or like perhaps, maybe, a girlfriend of some sort, I don't know, I really only heard a few words."

Brittany realizes she's been looking down at her drink this whole time while words came flying out of her mouth and when she looks up Santana is staring at her with an amused look on her face and an eyebrow quirked way up.

 _Santana isn't answering. Why isn't she answering. Okay, fuck, I screwed something up. I freaked her out. Why do I do that when things are going so well?_ _It's not like I want to date Santana, right? Do I ? … Do I?_

"Yess…." Santana drags out.

For some odd reason, Brittany feels like she wants to throw up. _She has a girlfriend, fuck my stupid, stupid life._

 _"…_ I was talking to my best friend."

Brittany's eyes snap up.

"Oh." Brittany's mouth keeps its _O_ shape.

Santana smiles and goes back to drinking her lemonade.

They talk about their families a little bit once the awkwardness of the last conversation died out and a little bit about how Brittany's career got started. She talks about not doing too well in school and how dance was her only outlet and her only sense of pride. She talked about college and more about her friendship with Sam. Santana asks her more questions about her relationship with Sam, and even though Brittany doesn't want to talk about it because it was such a non-relationship in her opinion, she can't help but feel a little bit of jealousy arise from the other girl. It's just a little bit, but she can feel it every time Santana asks with shyness and hesitation in her voice. It makes her wonder if Santana might be a little bit jealous of Sam, just a little.

\

They go back to camp and Brittany really hopes that her being the instructor doesn't change anything. She wants to keep getting to know this girl. She feels so drawn to her that a part of her wants to ask her to chill in her room so they can talk more but she knows it would be viewed as inappropriate to the other people. So, she settles for walking Santana to her room and thanking her again for the cupcake.

It was a great day. She hasn't had these feelings for a while, and she's beginning to accept the fact that she might have feelings for the girl. She doesn't mind. She's always found girls attractive, please, as a dancer, there are attractive people all around her, constantly. Beautiful people with beautiful bodies. She appreciates them, all of them. Men… women… Santana.

Right before bed, Brittany can't stop thinking about her day; learning about Santana, hanging out with her, sharing a cupcake with her. She opens her phone and finds the photo of her stuffed unicorn and sends it to Santana with the caption, _Trixie says goodnight._

 ** _Sent by Santana: That unicorn is too cute! Thx for taking me to the mall today, I had lots of fun! See u tmrw. Goodnight, Britt-Britt._**

 _Britt-Britt._ Brittany blushes at the nickname and closes her phone. What a great way to end the night. It's 10pm and she decides to go to the toilet one more time before sleeping or else she will have to suffer the consequence of deciding whether it's worth getting out of bed to use the washroom in the middle of the night or not. Lucky for her, she has a washroom in her room, so she doesn't have to trek down the hall like the other members just to pee.

When she returns she checks her phone one more time and sees a new next message. She smiles and opens it with anticipation that it will be her new special friend.

 ** _Sent by Unknown: Hi Brittany. It's Artie. The guy from the music shop. Sam finally gave me your number. He told me you're free Sundays, so I was wondering if you would like to go for lunch or even just a coffee with me next week. Figured, I'd ask you sooner rather than later since you don't have too much time to spare. I would like to get to know you if you would do me the honor and give me a chance to do so. Let me know._**

A part of Brittany's body slumps, but another messages comes in before she has the chance to think of a response.

 ** _Sent by Unknown: Oh, and Sam said something about a wingman. Hope to hear from you soon. – Artie._**

Brittany stares at the message. She stares and stares. **_Ding_** **.** Another damn message.

 ** _Sent by Sam: Gave music boi ur numbr. U can't say im not a gud wingman. Goodluck bestie. ; )_**

Brittany sighs and shuts off her phone. She'll decide and respond tomorrow. The energy she had just 10 minutes ago had faded away and now she just wants to sleep.

* * *

Comments? Reviews? Please be kind. xoxoxo


	11. Non-Date-Date

AN: Thanks for stinking with me. After this chapter, things are going to move faster. Also, if you are Quinn fans, I'm sorry, this story is not going to make Quinn look very great and if you're Quinntana fans, I don't know why you're reading this fic.

* * *

 **Brittany POV**

It's Thursday and Sam hasn't stopped messaging her about Artie. Apparently she had only sent one message back to him and it said: **_Hey Artie! It's nice to hear from u. I'll check my schedule and get back to you. – Brittany._**

She's been contemplating whether she wants to focus her attention on something that might strictly be a crush on a straight girl that lives on the other side of the country or to go on a simple harmless date with a guy who seems sweet and kind and understanding. Not to mention Sam's constant urging of her to go meet the guy. Brittany is actually a little bit surprised at how much Sam is pushing for this date when he was the one holding it back from her all this time.

Again, her phone goes off.

 ** _From Sam: Seriously, Britt. Answer the guy. He looks so damn sad at the store and hes been asking me if ive received any texts from u. U asked for me to be a wingman and I am. I don't want u looking like an asshole but u kind of r if u don't give him an answer._**

Sighing and throwing her head back, she's in the middle of texting Sam when her phone buzzes with another message. She sighs again and opens it.

 ** _From Unknown: Hi Brittany. It's Artie again. I haven't heard from you and I just wanted to make sure everything is okay. I'd understand if you didn't want to meet up with me on Sunday, but just let me know if you don't. I totally get it. No hard feelings. – Artie._**

Brittany feels guilty. So, so guilty. She had thought Artie was cute and the fact that he's in a wheel chair doesn't bother her at all, in fact she finds him even more attractive in it. Like he's some sort of cool futuristic robot or something. But since spending time with Santana, Brittany hasn't put much thought into anything else other than dance and Santana. She would call home every once in a while to talk to her parents when they're not working or to her sister when she's not playing baseball, but other than that, she's been having a blast getting to know Santana and she doesn't feel the need to get close to anyone else, but Sam did set this up for her. She did ask for it and Artie seems like a stand-up guy. Finally she decides to respond to his text.

 _Reply to Unknown: Hi Artie. Sry its taken so long to reply. Lots going on here at the camp. But yes. Yes, lets meet up Sunday. Looking forward to it. I'll meet you at the Mall on Starwood St. at 12pm and we can go from there._

She fires another text right away.

 _To Sam: I already texted Artie so stop buggin. I said yes, but that also means no bestie lunch date on Sunday. Your loss ; ) I'll let u know how things go. Thx for the set up._

 ** _Ding_**

 ** _From Unknown: Sounds good! See you Sunday, Brittany. Can't wait!_**

Brittany puts her phone down and lies on her pillow. Thoughts are floating through her mind, most of them are of Santana. Her smile. Her laugh. Her voice. Her body. The way she moves.

She hears her own voice in her head as she pictures the brunette on the back of her eyelids. _Do you like her? Do you like a girl? Are you crushing on the girl? You totally like the girl, admit it! She's perfect for you and damn does she make you happy. You're a lesbian. You're bisexual. Either way, it doesn't really matter, you damn well like Santana because your panties get wet just thinking about her kissing you. You're thinking about her kissing you now aren't you? Now you're feeling a tingling sensation everywhere, right? Damn you got it bad for her, Britt. Better make sure she's just as gay if not gayer than you or you'll just freak her out and you'll never see her again._

Brittany's eyes pop open. That was quite the conversation she was having with herself, but that was the exact moment – after accepting the date with Artie – when Brittany realizes that she genuinely has feelings for Santana from New York. _From New York. That's really a far distance to like somebody._ Brittany sighs; understanding that she just put herself in quite a pickle.

\

The rest of the week goes by relatively smoothly. Brittany is back to her usual cheerful self when class starts, rolling her eyes when Breanne shows up late for the second time this week, followed by her little lapdogs. She would usually say something if her students were late and reprimand them, but because her assistant is late as well, there's not much she can do. She tried talking to Breanne several times but only gets a nod, a shrug, and a lame excuse. She even tried to tell the company (in the nicest way possible) that her assistant was a useless sack of shit, but the dance company only told her that if she was having difficulties or issues with anyone, it's up to her to send them home. Brittany isn't the type to engage in confrontation, so she does her best to use her words as kindly as possible for Breanne to _step up her game._

During class, Brittany notices Santana sneaking glances at her and she always has this half smile on her face that shows off that cute little dimple on her left cheek that Brittany can't help but imagine herself poking at it.

"Earth to Brittany," a voice calls at her during one of their breaks.

Brittany is sitting next to the speaker with the music playing quietly with her new water bottle in hand. Santana is chatting with her roommate. She's watching as Rachel is about to gesture over to her direction but Santana is quick to yank her hand down and say something that looks kind of mean to the shorter girl. Santana shakes her head and covers her face with one hand as if Rachel had said something offensive or embarrassing.

Brittany snaps her head up at her name, "What's up?"

Breanne has her hand on her hips and just on the other side of the studio, her cronies are watching with evil smirks on their faces. "You need to stop zoning out dude, break was over 6 minutes ago. Are we going to continue with this class or not? If you want to keep daydreaming, go ahead, but I have other shit I would like to do before the day is over."

Brittany thinks that it was kind of rude of Breanne to say that with that kind of attitude but that's the way she is. Brittany sighs, "Sorry, you're right." She stands up and gets the class going again. She makes eye contact with Santana that currently has her eyebrows knit tight in the center in either frustration or irritation. Brittany throws her an embarrassed smile, knowing that most people heard the way Breanne spoke to her.

\

Class ends and everyone is again swimming in their own pool of sweat. People leave the class breathless but a lot more skilled than they were when they walked in. Brittany is packing up her laptop when she feels a presence behind her. She swings around and a smile graces her face for the twentieth time today.

"Why do you let her talk to you like that?" Santana asks as she crosses her arms over her chest.

Brittany's smile falters. "Who?" She knows exactly who but pretends to play dumb.

"You know very well who. Your bitch of an assistant."

Brittany zips up her bag, "I've talked to her about her attitude already, I don't know what else to say."

"Get rid of her, she's useless anyway!"

Brittany is surprised at how upset Santana is.

"We'll see how things go," the blonde says as they walk out of the studio doors together. "If she keeps up with this kind of behaviour I may have to."

"Good!" Santana says with a sharp nod. "Umm," she says and looks away shyly slowing in her steps.

Brittany turns her head when she realizes the other girl has slowed down. "What's up?"

"Do you have any plans on our day off tomorrow? I was… umm, I know it's last minute but umm… I was thinking you could show me around L.A. a little bit more? You know, if you weren't doing anything or … you know, whatever."

Brittany's' whole body buzzes with excitement but then dies just as quickly. _Shit._

"I… ugh, I can't tomorrow. I made plans already," she says full of regret.

"With Sam?"

"Well, I was supposed to hang out with Sam but something else came up and my plans changed."

"Hot date?" Santana gives her a wink and a wiggle of the eyebrows.

Brittany's chuckles and her mouth opens but nothing comes out. It's like she doesn't want to tell Santana she actually has a date. It's as if she thinks if she tells Santana she has a date with someone else that Santana would think she's not interested in hanging out with her and she will lose her chance with the brunette, but it seems like her silence was read easily.

"Oh, it is, isn't it?" Brittany notices a change in Santana's voice. Like she seems disappointed right after she had suggested this very scenario with enthusiasm.

Brittany sways her head back and forth, "Well, not really a date-date. I mean, Sam give this guy my number, you know, being the 'awesome wingman' that he is. So I agreed to meet up with him, you know, just to see what the guy is like. So, it's not really a date as much as it is a meet and greet," she says trying hard to make it sound like she's not at all interested in the man; which she really isn't.

"I see," Santana says with an obviously fake smile. "That's alright then. You have fun, and I hope the guy is… cool."

They stand there awkwardly for a moment so Brittany decides to say what's on her mind, "Next week?"

Santana looks at her confused.

"Next week, we can… I can take you to see… stuff."

A real smile graces Santana's lips and she nods. They stand awkwardly again before Santana speaks up, "Well, I should probably take a shower before all the hot water is gone. I'll see you Monday and um, have a good date."

Brittany almost cringes at the word but just nods, "I'll see you later, Santana," before they go their separate ways.

\

It's Sunday and Brittany walks into the mall at 12:08pm. She's hardly ever late for anything. She does her best to make it to places on time, but today, she just wasn't feeling it. She spots Artie sitting by the water fountain at the front entrance. His face lights up and she gives a polite smile. They decide to eat lunch at a small restaurant attached to the mall. Brittany doesn't know if she's supposed to push Artie or walk next to him. He seems to be rolling along quite quickly so she decides to just walk next to him.

They sit down and menus are placed in front of them. Brittany quickly grabs one and reads over her options.

"Hey, is everything okay?" Artie asks.

Brittany looks up from her menu, "Huh? Oh, yes, of course. Why?"

"I just asked you if you wanted something to drink."

"Oh! Sorry, my bad! Um, sure, I'll have a lemonade."

Artie nods and orders for her when the waitress comes over. They order their meals and chat. Artie is actually pretty easy to talk to. Brittany is enjoying her time with him, but she knows if she rejects him, Artie probably won't be up for being 'just friends'.

They continue on their conversation with a few laughs and basic topics like hobbies and interests. When lunch is finished, Artie insisted on paying and wouldn't take no for an answer. Brittany thanks him as they leave the restaurant together.

"I had a great time, thanks for meeting up with me, Brittany."

Brittany flashes a smile, "It was nice. Thank you for lunch. It was wonderful."

Some awkward silence floats between them and Brittany is just waiting for a way out.

"So, do you think I can see you again sometime?"

A part of Brittany feels bad for the guy. She feels like if she wasn't so attracted to Santana that maybe she would go on another date with him. Maybe she could even like him, but Brittany's mind is set to get to know Santana better. At least until the boot-camp ends.

"I'm pretty busy the rest of this summer with my boot-camp and all," Brittany sees Artie's face drop and feels so guilty, "Perhaps after it's over? Maybe in September some time?"

Artie's face brightens again and he nods.

Brittany offers Artie a ride home but his wheel chair doesn't fit in her car so he says it's fine since he wheeled to the mall, he doesn't live too far. They say their goodbyes and Artie reaches out for a hug which Brittany leans down to give him. She sighs. She knows she won't be the one calling him up in September.

\

When she gets back to the camp the first thing she spots in Sam's car. She parks a few stalls away from him wondering why he's here. When she walks in she sees him talking to none other than her assistant. She subconsciously rolls her eyes. Judging by their stances, Sam is talking animatedly and Breanne is leaning into him, laughing and running her fingers over his forearm.

"Sam?" Brittany says quietly as to not intentionally interrupt them.

He turns around, "Britt!" He hugs her straight away.

Brittany hugs back and looks up just in time to see Breanne cross her arms over her chest, tilt her head, and purse her lips together.

"I was just talking to Breanne here! Did you know she was almost the North American Dance Champion two years ago?"

Brittany smiles as warmly as possible and nods, "I did. What are you doing here?"

"I don't know, I figured after your lunch with Artie, you would come back here and we would have some time to hang out. I got here about 10 minutes ago and was greeted by Breanne so we just chatted until you got here," He says with a smile while Breanne continues to stand there even though neither Sam nor Brittany are actually talking to her.

"It would have been nice if you had told me," Brittany says a little annoyed. She was hoping she would have some part of her day off to hang out with Santana.

Sam frowns, "I'm sorry. I should have. Did you have something else you needed to do?"

Brittany wasn't going to tell him, especially not with Breanne still fucking standing there looking at Sam with eyes that are screaming for his attention.

"Not really, but I'm a little tired. I was just about to head to my room to get some rest and maybe work on next week's choreography."

"Oh," Sam says with a slight pout. "I don't mind hanging with you while you rest. Also, you need to tell me all about your date with Artie."

Brittany jumps when she hears Breanne's voice. She almost forgot she was there. "You went on a date with this stud here waiting for you?"

Brittany internally groans. _Why is she still here?_ "Sam's my best friend," she needlessly explains. She doesn't want to tell her she went on a date with Artie because to her, it wasn't really a date. According to Brittany, a date is when two people meet up and both parties are interested in turning it into something more. However, Brittany knew right when she responded to Artie's text that she had no intentions of it going any further than a courteous meet up.

Wanting nothing more than to leave the vicinity Breanne is in, she grabs Sam by the wrist, "Fine. Let's hang out and we can catch up. I need to get some work done though, so we can hang out in my room." She takes a few steps down the hall and turns, "Bye Breanne."

Breanne stands there with her hand on her hips as if Brittany completely interrupted her conversation with her boyfriend and then stole him away. She turns away without saying goodbye and stomps off. Brittany shakes her head at the girl and continues to drag Sam towards her room.

Brittany rests on her bed after changing into sweat pants as Sam sits on the sofa. She tells him how the meeting with Artie went and she told him that although she thought he was a nice guy, she's not interested in him, but thanks him for being a good wingman.

Sam smiles and nods. It's quiet for a little bit and Brittany can feel herself starting to drift off to sleep.

"So, are you interested in anyone else?" Sam asks as he rummages through her mini fridge.

Santana's face flashes quickly though Brittany's mind and she smiles to herself, but shrugs when Sam looks back up after deciding on an apple juice and plops back down onto the sofa.

"That's not a no," Sam says while trying to read her with squinted eyes.

"I don't know," Brittany starts, "It's weird, because, I don't even know what I'm feeling."

Sam nods, trying to understand. "It's not Artie, right?"

Brittany frowns because she had just told him that she wasn't interested in the guy. She shakes her head, "No."

Brittany sees Sam grit his teeth a little bit and then inhales a deep breath. "Is it Santana?"

Brittany's eyes snap too quickly over to her best friend and that just gives it away. Her heart rate speeds up at the sound of that name and the fact that she's not responding is another giveaway and she knows Sam can read her.

"It is, isn't it?" He says in a defeated tone.

She breathes deeply, swallows the air, licks her lips, and then shrugs. "I don't know," she says looking down at her hands. She's never had feelings like this towards another woman and she's more confused and nervous about it than she thought she would be. Is she about to come out to her best friend the same moment she's about to finally say it out loud to herself? She bites her lips and continues to play with the comforter sitting on her lap. She feels the bed dip next to her.

"It's okay, you know?" Sam says gently.

She wants to look up at him but she's nervous. Knowing it herself, she's comfortable with. She had already started to accept the fact she's developing feelings for Santana. She enjoys spending time with the girl and occasionally pictures them holding hands or kissing, but to admit it verbally was scarier than she thought. So she just gives the tiniest of nods.

"Brittany," he grabs her hand that's picking at a stray thread. She finally looks up at him and his features are gentler and calmer than she expected them to be. "It's okay," he repeats. "I mean, I kind of saw it the other day at the mall. The way you looked at her was just, it was different. It was different from the way you looked at other people. Different from the way you looked at me back when we…" he clears his throat, "when we were together."

"Different?" she asks quietly.

Sam nods, "Yeah, totally. Like you look like you just want to know everything about her. You're fascinated by her and every time she smiled, so did you."

Brittany nods, because yeah, it's all true.

"She looks at you the same way, you know," Sam says and Brittany notices slight pain in his features.

"She does?"

He nods again, "Yeah. I was trying not to believe it because I... well, it's not that I was trying to stop you from liking her as a women, but just…" he shrugs and she puts her free hand on his forearm. She gets it. "You know," he says as he looks down at her hand and then back up at her.

It's Brittany's turn to nod this time, "I do."

They both take some time to let it all absorb and process everything they just said to each other.

"But it's okay," Sam forces a smile, "She's cool and pretty hot." They both chuckle. "Just… it might take me some time to… you know… move on."

She reaches for him and gives him a hug that surprises him at first but hugs back in seconds. "Thank you," Brittany whispers. "Thank you for being such a great friend. The best."

They pull away and Sam has a genuine smile on his face but then it drops slightly, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I wasn't all that friendly to Santana, I guess… I guess I was a bit jealous and, I don't know, I thought it would be easier competition for me if you ended up with Artie. It was selfish of me, and I apologize. I can tell you really like her, and I like seeing you happy, so, it's all good." He looks down at the time on his phone, "I should probably go now though. I don't want to be late for practice again; the guys are going to hate me."

She chuckles at that and gets up off the bed and walks him back out to the main doors. They say goodbye and with another tight hug, Sam leaves.

Walking back down the hall, Brittany feels like there's a huge weight lifted off her shoulder. She's admitted to herself that she likes Santana. Sam is cool with it. Sam is on his way to sorting out his own feelings. She feels drained but pretty happy about the conversation.

"So are you fucking him too, or what?"

Brittany stops in her tracks, closing her eyes because she knows that annoying voice from anywhere and turns around. She didn't even see the girl, how the hell did she suddenly appear?

"Excuse me?" Brittany asks leaning in with her left ear towards the girl.

"I don't know. You just went on a date with another guy and it's clear that Sam likes you. You drag him into your room for an hour and then he leaves? Come on, you could at least save him for someone else."

"Breanne, what are you talking about? Sam and I were just chatting in my room. We're just friends."

Breanne looks down at her sweat pants and back up at her, "Whatever. I know all about you so I know the things you do. Don't play stupid with me," she rolls her eyes, "Although, usually, you're not playing," she smirks but her face turns hard again, "If you're just fucking him, why don't you go play with someone else's heart. Sam deserves someone better than you."

Brittany looks around the hall and is glad no one is roaming about. Most of the girls left the dorm to enjoy their day off.

"You watch your mouth!" Brittany snaps. "You don't know anything about me or him for that matter!"

Breanne just pulls her head back and laughs, she turns around and waves her hand as if completely disregarding Brittany's words.

Brittany is furious. She goes back to her room and throws herself onto her bed and tries not to let tears seep through her eyes. She doesn't know if she's more angry or upset. She needs to get rid of Breanne.

Her phone vibrates and she lets out a frustrated groan and picks it up off the night table. She suddenly feels her body calm a bit.

 ** _From Santana: Hey Britt-Britt. RU still out with your date?_**

 ** _To Santana: Hi San.. no, I'm back._**

 ** _From Santana: How did it go?_**

 ** _To Santana: It was alright, he's a nice guy but I probably won't see him again._**

 ** _From Santana: Aw_** ** _, I'm sorry._**

Brittany feels a sudden urge to see Santana. She doesn't care anymore. She's pissed off at Breanne and she needs some comfort so she goes for it.

 ** _To Santana: Room 052. Can you come chat?_**

She receives no response for 30 seconds and sighs. Feeling rejected and a little embarrassed. She's about to send another next to say that she doesn't have to if she's busy but then there's a knock on the door and her heart jumps immediately.

Opening the door she can't stop the smile from gracing her face as her girl crush is standing there with a sheepish smile. Brittany opens the door wider to let Santana in. Her feelings of frustration towards Breanne slowly fading.

They talk about her non-date with Artie, about Sam showing up at the camp, and about Breanne. She tells her about Sam going into her room to talk but skips the part about their topic. She tells Santana about Breanne's outburst after Sam's departure and sighs. "I know it's too late for us to go out now, but we're still on for next week right?"

Brittany sees Santana's face light up but drop. She's wringing at her fingers and bites the inside of her left cheek and sighs. "I can't hang out anymore next week. My best friend is coming to L.A.."

* * *

 **Santana POV**

Brittany and Santana have been getting along great the last few days. They chat during their breaks and when they're in their respective rooms they're texting each other. During class, Brittany sometimes throws her a cheeky smile and they subtly joke around when they're able to do so. It's Thursday evening and they've just finished another intense class full of quick foot work and hip movement. Santana chats a little with Brittany before sprinting off to the showers. When she returns, Rachel is already brushing her teeth. Santana is chilling on her bed watching some ridiculous reality show when Rachel walks by her towards her own bed.

They're silent for a while and Santana likes it. She enjoys her time with Rachel when they're not actually talking, but then, like always, Rachel ruins it.

"So, Miss Brittany seems really happy this week."

Santana nods.

"The two of you seem to be getting along quite well too."

Santana side eyes her but returns her focus on the television and shrugs.

Suddenly her phone goes off with a beep and she reaches over to find a text from Brittany.

 ** _From Britt-Britt: Great job today! U were one of the few that were able to keep up with my choreo. U have great hip movement._**

Santana feels her face heat up and smiles at her phone.

 ** _To Britt-Britt: I only learn from the best. Trust me, your hips are amazing._**

She regrets it the moment she sends it, afraid that she might have taken it a little too far, but she's relieved when Brittany responds.

 ** _From Britt-Britt: Haha, oh you have no idea, Santana. Enjoy the rest of the evening. Xox_**

"Seriously, Santana. Are you even listening to me?"

Santana rolls her eyes, "I'm trying not to."

She suddenly feels the side of her bed dip and shoots a deadly glare at her roommate. Rachel quickly stands up with a look of fear on her face and sits down on her own bed but not taking her eyes off of Santana.

"Look, Santana. I know you don't usually listen to me when I'm talking but I really hope you will at least listen to me now. As your roommate, I feel I'm responsible to tell you the things I see, even if you don't want to see it, and it has come to my attention that during our classes, your eyes tend to wander away when either I or another one of our classmates are trying to make conversation with you and due to this fact – "

"Seriously, you need to not take so long to get to the point. My head is starting to hurt."

"You like Miss Brittany."

Santana opens her mouth to snap at her nosey roommate but finds no words come out. She looks up to see Rachel's eyes are gentle and caring.

"I… I don't even… how can you tell?" Santana can't believe she's having this conversation but it's happening.

"It's kind of obvious the way you look at her. You steal glances during class and you find any opportunity to talk to her. If I liked someone I'd do the same," Rachel shrugs.

"Fuck." She looks Rachel dead in the eyes, "You better not fucking say anything."

Rachel sits up with her eyes wide open. Her hands shoot up in defense, "No. Never."

Santana nods and goes back to staring at the foot of her bed.

"If it helps, I think she likes you too."

Santana's eyes focus back on to her roommate.

"I see the way she looks at you too sometimes. It's not really hard when you're paying attention, and I'm very aware of my surroundings. I know you went to the mall with her on our day off, why don't you hang out with her again this weekend? I'm sure she would be more than happy to. Then if you two actually hit it off, you have me to thank and I personally think that…"

Santana officially stops listening but considers taking the advice of asking Brittany to hang out again. Man, she must really like this girl in order for her to take advice from Rachel fucking Berry. Now all she needs is the courage to do it.

\

It's Saturday and they're on their water break. It has actually gone on longer than usual but no one really cares, they're all sweating balls (at least those that have them), and could use the extra rest.

"Tomorrow is our day off, this is your last chance."

Santana closes her eyes and turns around to face her very nosy roommate, no really, she has a large nose. "Don't you think I know that? I can't, she's…" Santana looks in Brittany's direction then back at Rachel, "…busy."

"No she's not! She's drinking water and probably daydreaming! Go ask her!" Rachel almost gestures towards the blonde but Santana is quick to pull her damn arm down.

"What the fucking shit? She could have seen that!" Santana covers her face when she feels it heat up in embarrassment.

Santana is about to slap Rachel on the arm when she hears the shrill voice of one intolerable bitch. She turns and immediately feels the heat of embarrassment turn into heat of fury when she sees the way Breanne is talking to Brittany.

"… If you want to keep daydreaming, go ahead, but I have other shit I would like to do before the day is over."

Brittany says something and looks a little sad and ashamed. She stands up and bright blue eyes make contact with hers but Santana can't shake the look on her face. How could someone talk to Brittany like that? Brittany throws her a tiny smile and Santana's heart just breaks for her. Breanne treats Brittany like crap and gets away with it. Not on her watch!

Once class ends, Santana takes this chance to talk to Brittany. To talk about Breanne and getting rid of her useless ass. When they are out the doors, she finally gains the courage to ask Brittany out. Her beating heart stops and tumbles in the most uncomfortable way when she hears that the girl has a non-date-date. A ray of sunshine seeps through when Brittany asks her to hang out the following weekend, but it's still so far away. Santana nods because what else can she do? She's still bummed out about Brittany going on a date. What if they actually hit it off? What if Brittany likes the guy before Santana even has the chance to go on a non-date-date with her? What if Rachel is a fucking liar and Brittany is actually straight? Santana decides the best way to release her wrath is to kill Rachel.

Lucky for Rachel, she's in the shower when Santana arrives back into the room and there is no way Santana is going to go all Norman Bates on her and have to see it naked. No one should have to see that. But by the time Santana is finished showering Rachel is fast asleep. Santana will have to kill her another day, killing her in her sleep is just cruel.

\

Santana spends the next day in her room mostly by herself listening to music with her new awesome headphones she bought last weekend. She tries not to dwell on the fact that Brittany is on a date. Rachel went out with a group of people including the giant with two left feet. She's lying in bed in a sports bra and shorts when she feels a vibration to her left. Picking up her phone she sees that it's Quinn.

"Hi,Q," she says when she picks up the phone.

They talk about everything that has been going on in their lives since they last spoke. In fact, the last time they spoke, Quinn was incredibly drunk mid-afternoon. It is nice to hear her friend sober this time. Santana enjoys talking to Quinn, they have been through almost everything together, but for the first time, Santana is getting vibes from her best friend, and they're making her uncomfortable. Quinn is constantly telling her how much she misses her and how good it would feel to be wrapped up in her arms once again. Santana can't stop herself from thinking about how great it would feel being wrapped up in Brittany's arms. Quinn had also hinted that she has been horny lately and the past few make out sessions she had with one of her go-to's were not satisfying.

 _"So, I'm coming to L.A. next weekend."_

"You what?" Santana doesn't mean to sound rude or unwelcoming. She's just shocked and well, maybe she doesn't want Quinn around when Brittany is here. _Shit! Brittany!_ Santana remembers that Brittany is supposed to show her around next weekend.

 _"What? You don't want me to come? Fine then, I'll cancel my ticket!"_ Quinn says abrasively.

"Wait, no. I didn't mean it that way, of course I want you to. I'm surprised is all," Santana tries to cover her ass but her chest feels tight at the fact that she won't be able to spend her only day off with the one person who has been able to make her happy lately, "but you know you can't stay here at the dorm right?"

" _I know, silly,"_ Quinn's mood changes quickly, _"I'm actually coming up for a Law trip with some classmates. I'll be staying about 15 minutes away from where your camp is."_

"Oh, cool! Great! I can't wait to see you then," Santana tries to say as quickly as possible afore Quinn hears the lie in her voice.

 _"I'm excited too! Love you, San. See you next week!"_

Santana officially can't get herself to say those words to her best friend anymore. She loves Quinn, sure. They're best friends, but she has a feeling that Quinn means it differently and it's something they both need to have a long chat about.

"See you next week, Q! Looking forward to it," is all she manages to get out

\

She wants to slap herself immediately when she sees the pout on Brittany's lips when she mentions Quinn's visit after Brittany had asked her to hang out in her room. Santana apologizes profusely, something she never does for anyone and actually surprises herself. Brittany asks Santana a few questions about her friendship with Quinn, like how they met and what her favourite thing about her best friend is.

Santana takes a while to think about that one. A surprisingly long time and finally decides on, "She's always been there for me."

When asked to elaborate, Santana hesitates to mention her parent's divorce, her father leaving, and her mother's clingy but unapproachable personality, but she does anyway because the way Brittany is looking at her warmly, she feels like she can trust her. Brittany is officially the second person who knows about Santana's family life. Knowing it's probably time to go back to her own room since they have an early morning class the next day, Santana reluctantly says mentions the time.

"I should let you get some sleep, it's passed midnight."

Brittany nods and they both stand up as Brittany walks her out.

"Thanks for opening up to me," Brittany says when Santana reaches for the door knob. "I like listening to your story, I feel like I know you a little bit better," she says with a smile.

Instinctively, Santana reaches out but then pulls herself back, not wanting to seem needy and clingy like her mother. Brittany, however, has different thoughts and brings herself closer and wraps Santana in a hug. Santana is stunned but immediately sinks into the taller girl's embrace; hugging back and resting her chin on Brittany's shoulders.

Santana enters her own room with her heart racing more than it probably should. It was just a hug, but damn, it was the most comfortable hug she has ever had. The shape of Brittany's body just fit perfectly into her own, and she felt more safe, calm, and relaxed than she has been in a long time, or possibly ever.

It's official, Santana Lopez, has developed feelings for one Brittany Pierce.

* * *

I rely on reviews to keep me motivated, you guys have been doing awesome but I want to hear how you feel about this story. xoxoxo


	12. A Sleep In The Right Direction

AN: Sorry, sorry, sorry! I've been horrible. I hit a road block and had a hard time getting back into the groove, but I'm back now. This is a short chapter and not my best, but something is about to happen so I want to save all of that for the next chapter. Hope you enjoy.

* * *

 **Santana POV**

It's Friday night and Santana is expecting Quinn Saturday afternoon, after their last class. Even though she loves seeing Brittany every day, by the time Friday hits she's ready for a day off; preferably with Brittany but she knows she's not getting that this weekend. The classes have been getting harder and harder. Little did Santana know the first week was introductory and she had already thought that was hard. Once she felt comfortable with the level of training and had gotten used to the intensity, Brittany kicked it up a notch. Now on the third week, Santana thought she had everything in the bag. She is top 5 in the class and she is in the best physical shape she has ever been in; including her year cheerleading. My, was she wrong. Brittany is very serious about the final performance and they are to start with it by the end of next week now that everyone has the fundamentals down relatively smoothly. 5.5 hours of dance a day can really start to get to a person and if it was up to Santana, she would sleep all day Sunday, but her best friend is coming and she needs to entertain her.

During the week, there is a lot of flirting going on between her and Brittany. Sometimes they have lunch together, but sometimes Brittany goes back to her room for lunch because she has to plan for the evening class. By the time they finish at 6:30pm and take their showers, the girls usually hang out in Brittany's room to talk or to watch TV. Only one time has Santana fallen asleep half-dressed on top of her covers after an intensive cardio training. She was woken up when Rachel was trying to tuck her in, Santana almost slapped her right there when Rachel put a hand on her thigh. The rest of the days this week, Santana would eat dinner with Brittany either buying take out and eating it in Brittany's room or going out for a quick meal. Rarely would they eat at the cafeteria for dinner, especially since Santana has to eat there for lunch every day.

"So, your best friend is coming to visit tomorrow?" Brittany asks and pops a cherry tomato into her mouth.

"Yup! She said she will come around 7, after our last class."

"Cool! Oh, you should take her to that lemonade place I took you to. It's one of the best in the area."

"Yes! I had planned to do that with her on Sunday already, which by the way, what are your plans?" Santana asks before taking the last bite of her chicken Caesar salad.

"Not much, probably just hang around. I could go home and visit my family, but my sister has a game and is going to a friend's party afterwards, and my parents work on Sundays, so there's really no point."

"What about Sam?"

Brittany bites her bottom lip and looks slightly guilty.

"He said he needed some space to get over me if I was interested in–" she clears her throat, "if I was not going to be with him."

Santana nods in understanding. She could swear she thought Brittany was going to say 'interested in someone else' but maybe it was just her wishful thinking.

"I guess we won't get to do our nightly hang outs this weekend then," Santana says sadly.

Brittany pouts and Santana is really pulling herself back not to kiss her bottom lip.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. She's leaving Tuesday night and I know she has school work to do all of Monday, so I'll probably just see her tomorrow night, Sunday, and Tuesday before she leaves. She's been a little… how do I say this kindly… Let's just say, I haven't been spending enough time talking to her and I'm starting to feel really bad about it."

"I can understand that," Brittany says empathizes. "I feel bad when Sam asks me to hang out but I'm too busy to as well."

Santana nods, "He guilt trips you too?"

Brittany's eyes furrow, "Guilt trip? Well, no. I just feel guilty because I want to see him, but work and dance is my first priority. He totally understands though. Does Quinn not?"

Santana is about to speak but loses her words. Sometimes Quinn makes her feel guilty. Sometimes when Santana isn't in the mood to go to the mall with her or cuddle, Quinn brings up a past story about how she would always go to the mall with Santana when she wanted to and was there for her and held her through her family drama. She would then ignore Santana for about a day or two until Santana feels like she has lost her best and only friend and Quinn comes back to console her. But instead of telling Brittany all this, she just says, "Oh, yes of course she understands. That's what I meant." She brushes off the conversation.

Santana quickly makes her way over to the couch with a bowl of grapes in hand, Brittany follows and plops down on the right side of the couch about a foot away from her. She wants to be close to Brittany, of course she does, but she's nervous so she sits stiffly, trying her best not to touch the blonde. She starts to feel stiffness in her neck and tries to stretch it out by tilting her head side to side.

"Come here," Brittany says and Santana can actually feel her heart speed up. She looks at the girl. "I know I worked you guys hard today and that was a lot of arm and shoulder training you guys did this afternoon. But honestly, some of those girls have weak ass arms. They can't hold a straight line for more than 10 seconds, I just couldn't handle it. It was annoying me. Sorry, you had to go through all that too."

Santana chuckles, "You don't need to apologize, Britt. It's your job to whip us all into shape, and I'm glad for it. I've never been fitter in my life." She unconsciously tilts her head side to side again.

"Come here," Brittany repeats and tucks her left leg in as Santana shuffles under her lower back hits Brittany's knee.

Santana shudders as soon as Brittany puts her hand on her shoulder but tries to restrain herself from being too obvious. Once Brittany starts massaging, Santana starts relaxing and oh my God, is it ever relaxing. She leans into Brittany's touch as Brittany works her fingers down the back and side of Santana's neck, right under her skull, and down. The pressure is just right and Santana is beginning to feel herself drift off to sleep. It has been an exhausting week and this is the perfect way to finish it off. The energy Brittany gives off is so calming and Santana is having a hard time keeping her eyes open. She figures it won't hurt to close her eyes for 10 seconds.

Santana opens her eyes and finds the massaging has stopped. She is in one of the most comfortable positions she's ever been in. She turns her head slightly to see what kind of wonderfulness she is laying upon and sees a shoulder. _Shit!_ She fell asleep on Brittany and just as she's about to apologize, she looks up and sees the blonde has also fallen asleep. Her head against the arm rest, one arm tucked under her head, and the other one wrapped around Santana's waist in a protective hold as if keeping her from rolling off the couch. Santana has no idea what time it is, and in all honesty she doesn't really care. She rests her head against Brittany's chest once more and closes her eyes.

"Santana."

Her brows furrow at her name. She's too comfortable to move.

"Santana." The voice gets louder.

She grunts and turns her cheek, feeling a bit of drool at the edge of her mouth.

The voice chuckles, "Santana, wake up."

She opens one eye, then the other. It's bright now and she finally realizes where she is. She quickly wipes the drool with her forearm and sits up; rubbing her eyes.

"Shit! I'm sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep." An overdue apology.

"It's okay, San, but it's time to get up."

"How do you know?" She feels herself being pushed up into a sitting position.

"Internal alarm," Brittany says. "And external," she laughs, "but you must not have heard it with your cute snoring. My phone alarm went off twice."

"I don't snore," Santana says as she slowly tries to stand up. This couch was made for people to sit on, not sleep on.

"Mhm, sure. You don't snore as much as you don't drool."

Santana turns to see Brittany looking down at the wet patch just above her right boob. She internally kicks herself for being so gross in front of Brittany.

"That… that wasn't… me…"

"Of course not," Brittany chuckles and slides herself around so her feet can touch the ground. Santana walks around the couch and begins to make her way to the washroom. "I have a brand new toothbrush if you want to –"

Brittany interrupts her own sentence with a hiss. Santana turns to see what caused Brittany to stop talking when she sees the girl frozen with one hand on the arm rest and her head tilted downward.

"Brittany?"

No response.

"Brittany, what's wrong?"

Santana rounds the couch again and sees Brittany with her eyes shut tightly and she's breathing slightly harder than usual. A surge of panic hits Santana and she doesn't know what to do.

"Brittany, what's going on?" She kneels down and puts a hand on Brittany's bicep.

"No, don't touch me!"

Santana has never retracted her hand so quickly.

About 10 more seconds pass before Brittany exhales and finally moves again. She opens her eyes and a single tear falls from her right eye. Santana reaches up to wipe it away but then pulls back, unsure if she can touch her. She just sits and watches with an ache in her heart.

"I'm sorry," Brittany says and wipes her own tear away.

Santana shakes her head at the nonsense; Brittany has nothing to be sorry about.

"Are you okay?" Santana says softly, "What happened?"

Brittany sighs and moves her body side to side as if stretching out her back.

"It's nothing. Sometimes my back seizes up on me, but I'm okay after a few seconds."

Santana squints her eyes at her friend, "Um, no. It's not nothing, you were obviously in pain. What usually…" Realization slaps Santana across the face, "Oh fuck, I'm sorry."

"What?" Brittany says as she goes to stand up slowly.

"It's 'cause we fell asleep on the couch wasn't it? You were in a pretty uncomfortable position to begin with and with my added weight on top of you…"

"No, it's not. It's fine. I'm fine. We really need to get ready now or we'll both be late for class and there is no way I'm going to pull a Breanne."

"Are you sure you're okay to teach?"

"I'm fine, Santana!"

Santana's eyes widen at the volume of the girl.

"I'm sorry," Brittany says almost immediately. "It's just that, I'm fine, really. You don't need to worry about me." Brittany walks back to where Santana is still knelt on the ground. She puts her hand out towards Santana. "Come on, I'll go grab you that new toothbrush and make some breakfast for us."

Santana hesitantly takes her hand and lets Brittany pull her up. She follows her to the bathroom and they take turns brushing their teeth. When Santana is brushing, Brittany is making some toast and scrambled eggs in the kitchen. When Santana joins her the silence is broken when Brittany finally speaks. "I have some extra work out clothes if you don't want to go back to your room to change."

Santana nods. A little part of her is afraid to speak after Brittany snapped at her, twice.

The rest of breakfast is mostly silent. Santana glances at Brittany whenever she can, and catches Brittany watching her a couple times. Both with what seems like a lot on their mind.

When Santana is finishing the last of her toast they both jump at the sound of Santana's phone vibrating on the table. She flips it around to see a text message.

 ** _Sent by Q: See you soon, S._**

Santana smiles half-heartedly at it and replies.

 _Sent to Q: C ya soon!_

Quinn could not be coming at a worse time.

* * *

 **Brittany POV**

She really wanted to tell Santana what was going on. She really, really did, but she was afraid if she told her, that Santana would find her weak. Brittany remembers the time when her back started seizing during a routine and her instructor forced her to stand straight and told her to shake it off and to stop being such a wimp. She has never been in so much pain in her life. It literally felt like the muscles in her back were tearing apart every time the instructor moved her. She ended up running to the washroom, once she was able to, to vomit because it hurt so badly. She cried in the washroom for two minutes before she cleaned herself up and walked out of that studio forever. She has never let anyone that wasn't her dad touch her every time she had back spasms. She told her parents that the dance studio had asbestos and had to be shut down for a few weeks. Mr. and Mrs. Pierce did not have the time to check up on the place and just sighed and told Brittany to find herself another dance studio and they would pay for it. She has never told anyone that story and absolutely no one knows about it and she intends to keep it that way. She cannot let people think she is weak both mentally and physically. She needs some aspect of strength, and if she doesn't have the brains she will at least have the physicality.

When class begins, Brittany makes sure she stretched her back out more than usual. Breanne is late again but this time Brittany doesn't take it. She's not in the mood. She woke up with a beautiful person sleeping on her and the next thing she knows, her back is trying to tear itself up and she ends up yelling at the girl for caring about her. Now things are awkward and she doesn't know what to do. So, Breanne being late yet again with 5 girls trailing her just won't do anymore.

"Breanne, why are you late, again?"

Without even looking at her, Breanne smirks, "Had stuff to do, but I'm here now, what do you want?"

"I want you, Jordan, Ash, Selina, Krystal, and Becca to stay after class and mop the floors and clean the mirrors."

All the girls turn to look at Brittany before looking at Breanne with their eyes wide and their mouths wider.

"WHAT?!" Breanne yelped.

"I've told you so many times not to be late, and you are setting a horrible example for everyone else, so no more. If you're late, you get punished, end of story."

"You can't do that!" one of the girls yells out.

"If you don't want to own up to your tardiness then you can leave. Everyone else, including you or your parents I presume, paid to be here to learn, so if you're just going to disrespect the class, you might as well leave."

The girls all look at each other in shock, except Breanne who is giving Brittany the evil eye. The other girls take their place at the back and Breanne stands in the front but off to the side.

When class is over, Santana approaches her but Brittany tells her that she has to stay and watch the others clean, to make sure everyone is doing their part. Santana tells her she's proud of her for standing up for herself. She squeezes Brittany's forearm and strokes it with her thumb a couple of times to show she means it and leaves Brittany alone with the 6 girls. This single touch has made Brittany's day so much brighter. When everything is clean, the girls leave silently. Breanne stops to glare at Brittany.

"I hope you're happy. You embarrassed me in front of everyone," Breanne says with her arms across her chest.

"If you had listened to me and wasn't constantly late, I wouldn't have to do this. I have to keep some sort of order in this boot camp, I need discipline."

"Whatever," Breanne scoffs and leaves the room.

\

Brittany takes a shower after the final class. It's around 7pm and she's tempted to go find Santana to rant about Breanne but then she remembers her best friend, Quinn, is going to arrive any minute now. She has a quick dinner and responds to a short text from Sam; her wonderful best friend that is trying so very hard to get over her. Although he said he needed space, he is still trying to keep a conversation going with her and she really does appreciate the effort.

Brittany decides to do a load of laundry since night time is the best time to do it. It would be packed if she waited for the weekend. She goes out to the front to grab a coin from Dan and as she's walking back to gather her laundry, she sees Santana. With a smile, she approaches the brunette and sees another blonde standing in front of her. Her blonde is not as bright as Brittany's, and she's shorter than her, but she is really pretty. Almost princess like.

"Hey, Santana," Brittany says with a cheery smile.

"Brittany!" Santana says and a smile floods her face.

"And you must be, Quinn," Brittany says and reaches her hand out. When they make eye contact she notices something strange. Quinn is smiling at her, sure. Quinn greeted her with a friendly hello and a hand shake with no hostility, but Brittany gets a feeling inside her bones that this girl doesn't like her. Brittany is usually a good judge on people and she is sensing something fake coming from Santana's best friend.

"Whatcha doing?" Santana says and it snaps Brittany's eyes back to her.

"I was just about to go do some laundry and saw you, so I decided to come say hi."

"Well, I'm glad you did."

Brittany can't help but smile when Santana smiles and Santana hasn't stopped smiling since Brittany arrived. However, there is one person not smiling and it's making her feel uncomfortable .

"Anyway, I should get going. I have a big load to do." Santana pouts and Brittany unconsciously pulls on Santana's bottom lip just for a split second, "Stop it," she chuckles. Brittany can literally feel flaming daggers shoot from Quinn's eyes onto the hand that touched Santana. She looks to Quinn and sees that she's getting impatient. "I'll let you guys catch up. It was nice to meet you Quinn. I'll see you Monday, Santana. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Santana whispers sweetly.

\

Brittany is finished her laundry and is about to tuck herself in for a good night's rest when she suddenly doesn't remember if she has locked the studio doors or not. She grabs her keys and makes her way down the quiet hallway. It's 10pm and most people are either out and about on their free night or has fallen asleep after Brittany's intense weekend rundown. She walks outside towards the studio when she hears voices come from the side. She's not curious or anything because there are people scattered all over the place. She checks the door to find that she did indeed lock it and when she turns back around she's met with eyes staring straight at her. She's startled until she realizes who it is. It's Quinn. She's hugging Santana, but Santana's back is facing her so she can't see her. Quinn seems to hug her even tighter and gives Brittany the evilest smirk she has ever seen. Brittany feels her blood heat up and turns away to go back inside the dorm but just before the door closes she hears a light moan.

* * *

I know. Hate me. I'm sorry. Review/comment. I live off those. Thank you readers! XOXO


	13. Spreading Fire

AN: Another long chapter. I had to split it in half because of the rare Quinn POV. You won't get many of these but it needed to be done to keep the story going. Thank you for your reviews, it really set a fire under my ass to write more. Enjoy! And please don't hate me too much.

* * *

 **Santana POV**

"Quinn, what are you doing?" Santana asks when the blonde, that was once resting her chin on her shoulder, turns her head and starts kissing her neck, moaning into the space there. Santana doesn't want to get aroused but at the same time, it's been a while since she's had any intimacy and this feeling with Quinn is familiar and somewhat comforting.

"I've missed you," Quinn says quietly into Santana's neck and continues her ministrations.

She can't. It feels wrong. As good as it feels, it feels wrong. It feels like she's somehow betraying Brittany or at least her feelings towards Brittany.

"I've missed you too but," Santana sets her hands on Quinn's shoulders and pushes her back, "I can't be doing this here." Is the only excuse she's able to find.

Quinn wipes her lips, "Okay, so, where should we go? I can't go into the dorm now."

Santana sighs, "Let's just catch up and talk. I've missed talking to you." Quinn nods and Santana leads her to one of the decorative boulders sitting outside the camp.

"How have you been? How's New York?" Santana asks.

Quinn shrugs, "Same old. Just been busy with school and such, hung out with Andrew a few times and he asked about you. He says he hasn't spoken to you since… well, since that day."

Just his name makes Santana feel uncomfortable, even more so now that, not only did she once make out with Quinn on a regular basis but she has a very strong crush on another taller blonde. She tries her best to be indifferent. "How is he?"

"He's well," Quinn says. "He's going to another wrestling camp near the end of summer but that's all I know. What about you?" Quinn asks as she looks into Santana's eyes. "How has boot-camp been? Met any cool people?"

Santana's tries to contain a smile and just nods. She clasps her hands together and clears her throat. "My roommate, Rachel, is a little annoying but she's nice enough. She's a little bit of a suck up to Brittany, but I seriously think that's just the way she is. One of those gold star students, you know?"

"Brittany? The tall, lanky girl I saw earlier today? Why would she suck up to Brittany?"

Santana realizes she has never told Quinn who her instructor was. "Oh! Um, because, Brittany is our teacher."

Quinn's mouth opens into an ' _O_ ', then her eyes open in realization. "Is that why you were so nice to her? Because she's your teacher?"

Santana's forehead scrunches in confusion and then shakes her head, "No…" she drags out. "I'm nice to her because Brittany is a nice person. We've hung out a few times and I feel like we've become pretty good friends," she says feeling the need to defend the girl that isn't there. Santana doesn't miss the look Quinn gives her.

Quinn clears her throat, "So, you, Brittany, and your roommate all hang out together? I didn't realize you had that much free time."

Santana can see Quinn start to get a little worked up and go into defence mode.

"Well, no, I told you we train over 5 hours a day with an hour break in between. I see Rachel a lot but we don't actually hang out much. And sometimes Brittany and I hang out during lunch or after our classes. Why are you getting so upset?" She asks, not liking the look on Quinn's face when Brittany is mentioned.

"I'm not getting upset," Quinn says, obviously pissed off, "It's just that I figured if you had so much free time, you'd call me or text me more."

Santana sighs feeling guilty, "I know and I'm sorry." She has no excuse. Sure this dance camp has basically taken over her life but she's not really all that sorry. It's super intense and hard work but she's having so much fun. She's meeting new people and learning new skills, not to mention meeting someone as special as Brittany. She has a limited time with her and she wants to spend as much time as she can with her. She's finally finding herself the way she intended to when she left New York. "But you're here now and I want to spend time with you. So how about we just do that?" Santana says, trying to stray away from any promises she can't keep about calling and texting more often. "Let's plan our day tomorrow. Where are you staying?"

"At the Regal Hotel about a 15 minute drive away. I got dropped off here today but my ride has a meeting tomorrow, so you will have to come get me."

Santana hates it when she does that. She really has no issues being the one to make the commute, but she would really appreciate it if Quinn gives her the chance to offer instead of making the assumption. She also knows she should have spoken up about this pet peeve years ago, but she's been letting it slide and now Quinn just thinks it's a normal thing to do.

"Okay, I'll come get you around noon then. We can go for lunch and hang out. I can take you to this lemonade place that I really like."

"Sounds good! I'm looking forward to it. Just then Quinn's phone buzzes, "Looks like my ride will be here in 2 minutes." They both stand up and Santana walks Quinn towards the main driveway. "I'll see you tomorrow, Santana."

"See you tomorrow, Quinn."

The girls reach out to hug each other but as they pull away, Quinn leans in and gives Santana a peck on the lips. It came so quickly that Santana didn't have time to react and when she did, her first instinct is to panic and look around to make sure another certain blonde didn't see it.

"Have a goodnight, Santana." Quinn gets into her friend's car and Santana only manages to wave slowly.

Santana is so confused. The dynamics in her relationship with Quinn has changed drastically for her. _Is this how it's always been?_ She thinks to herself. She wonders if Quinn has become more clingy and touchy, or perhaps it's always been like this and her feelings towards her best friend has changed since arriving in L.A.. Whichever it is, she's bombarded by two feelings. First, she's feeling guilty for not reciprocating Quinn's sentiments. Second, she feels irritated that Quinn is seemingly pushier now. She needs to sort this out and only has a day to do it, but she's afraid it will leave her with one less friend either way.

\

Santana wanders into the cafeteria early the next morning. She hadn't slept well and is in need of some energy. The cafeteria isn't actually open today since it's everybody's day off but they do have a few vending machines that has fruit, yogurts, nuts, and instant oatmeal. She's looking at an apple and yogurt and puts in her coins when she realizes she's a quarter short. Tired and now frustrated she lets her head fall against the glass of the vending machine and she closes her eyes for a split second debating whether to go back to her room to get more money or just fuck the apple and just go for the yogurt. She hears the sound of a coin fall through the machine and it begins to whirl. She looks up at it and sees a beautiful reflection standing behind her.

"Really looked like you needed some help."

A wave of comfort but at the same time excitement washes over her and she smiles and presses the buttons that lead to her getting her breakfast.

"What are you doing here so early?" Santana asks, but then she sees Brittany's stack of paper work on one of the tables. "Oh."

"I like to work here on weekends. The lighting is better and I have more space to spread out my work." Brittany looks at Santana curiously, "What are you doing up so early?"

"I couldn't really sleep so I figured I'd get something to eat to hold me off until Lunch with Quinn."

Santana notices Brittany turning her head to face her work when her best friend's name is mentioned.

"Did you have a good night with Quinn yesterday?"

"Um, it was alright. We just talked and stuff. Made plans for our day today. That's all."

Brittany nods but seems more distant than usual and Santana is really hoping Brittany didn't see the meaningless kiss Quinn planted on her lips before she left.

"So, what _are_ your plans today?" Brittany asks and picks up her pen and checks off a few boxes.

"Well, I'll probably taxi to her hotel to pick her up and then we will go for lunch and then I was thinking of taking her to the lemonade place you took me to last time," Santana said with a smile; hoping to bring a smile to the blonde's face. It does, but only slightly.

"Where is she staying?"

"At the Regal hotel."

"Want a ride?"

Santana tries not to smile bigger at the offer. "No, I mean. I don't want to trouble you. You're busy."

Brittany just shrugs, "Not really. I could use a break anyway. I don't mind. I need to get out of this camp for a while too. I think I might actually head back home for a little bit. Pick up some stuff and if I'm lucky, see my sister before her game."

"If it's not out of the way and you're really okay with it, I would really appreciate a ride."

"I'm totally okay with it. If I didn't want to do it, I wouldn't have offered," Brittany says with a wink that made her lady bits tingle just a little.

"Okay, that's great! Thank you so much! Can I get there around noon?"

"No."

Santana pouts.

Brittany looks at her and smiles. She tugs on her bottom lip again like she did last night and chuckles, "I'm kidding."

The girls spend the rest of time in relative silence. Santana letting Brittany get her work done while she eats her apple.

\

"Who was that?" Quinn asks when Santana gets out of the car and Brittany's little black Prius drives away.

"Brittany gave me a ride. She's going to head home and this was on her way, so she dropped me off."

Quinn crosses her arm over her chest, "What, have you guys become best friends or something?"

This throws Santana off guard. "What? What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. Never mind."

Santana still senses that Quinn is in a pissy mood.

"No, Quinn. Tell me. What are you insinuating when you say that?" She copies Quinn's body language and crosses her owns arm across her chest. Santana can tell Quinn is fuming inside. The girl hates it when Santana stands her ground because as hard-ass as Santana is, she has a soft heart and will usually give in to the people she cares for.

"I don't know, Santana. Why don't you tell me? You run off to L.A. to what? Fucking, dance? And you don't call, you don't text, I bumped into your mom at the market and she asked if I had heard from you because apparently you don't call her either. I come all the way here to visit you and you keep spending all your time with this new chick that you can't stop talking about. So, Santana, you've either turned gay on me or you got yourself a new best friend."

Santana is shocked at her 'best friend's' words but finds some on her own. "First off, I've already apologized numerous times about not contacting you. I told you before, this is an intensive camp and I honestly just don't have the time or energy most evenings. Second, you came here for a school trip so don't you dare say you came for me. Third, Brittany is a good person. I'm alone here, Quinn. I came here not knowing anyone and she's been nothing but nice. She's not my best friend, but she's definitely been there for me more than once. So, yah, she and I are becoming close friends but…" She sighs, "But, you're my best friend. You've always been my best friend." She runs her fingers through her hair. She's tired of explaining herself, she has a single day with Quinn and she doesn't want to spend it arguing. "Can we just hang out? I've missed you and I just want to spend some quality time with you. Can we do that?" She sees Quinn visibly relax.

"I've missed you, too." Quinn goes in for a hug and Santana easily accepts it. Glad that the fight is over. "Okay, let's just forget about all of that and spend the day together."

The girls have lunch and Santana keeps her promise by taking Quinn to the lemonade shop and again, it's delicious. She keeps thinking of Brittany's smile when she took the first sip in anticipation of her reaction. It was so cute.

The girls spend the rest of the afternoon walking around and just catching up. A few times during their time together, Quinn gets really close, and although it used to be normal and reassuring, Santana is shying away from it. Not feeling nearly as comfortable as she once did. Santana was showing Quinn some of the choreography on her phone when instead of just leaning over and watching the video like what Santana expected, Quinn not only rested on chin on Santana's shoulder but gently placed her hands on her waist. Another time, when they went to get some tacos from a food cart, Santana had some sauce on the side of her lips, but instead of laughing and telling her she's a sloppy eater, Quinn used her finger to wipe it off for her, causing Santana to stand there in shock. However, she didn't speak up about it because she knew for sure Quinn would get defensive and they would end up fighting again.

It's just past 8pm and the dorm locks its doors at 9. Quinn insists that Santana take her back to the hotel. Quinn told Santana they would go through the back entrance since that's where her room was. It is more isolated in the back and quite a bit darker as the sun set. Quinn takes her hand and drags her to stand between the building and a large tree. Suddenly, Quinn's lips are on hers and hesitantly, Santana starts kissing back, knowing that this is something Quinn probably needed more than her. Santana does not kiss any deeper and just lets Quinn do what she needs. It's familiar, and perhaps Santana missed it, but it wasn't exactly the feeling she remembers. She remembers there being more heat, more security, more arousal. Santana doesn't know where to put her hands so she just leaves them on Quinn's hips, whereas Quinn's hands are roaming. One hand lands on Santana's breasts and the other is trailing down, to her hips and playing with the button of her jeans. To say Santana is uncomfortable is not exactly the right word, because it's not like she's cheating on anyone and who doesn't want to be making out with someone as pretty as Quinn, but it sends a feeling of guilt through her. While Santana is contemplating her thoughts, she didn't actually notice Quinn had undone her button and unzipped the zipper slowly. Santana is thinking about Brittany, and what she's up to. If she's back at the dorm or if she's still with her family. Thoughts of Brittany swirl in her head when her body jolts in reaction to a sharp pain between her legs. Quinn had entered her quickly and forcefully with two fingers and although she was slightly aroused, it was not enough for a comfortable entrance.

"Ow, Quinn. Stop!" Santana breaks the kiss and says not too loudly to draw attention to them from anyone that may be around.

Quinn continues kissing her jaw and down her neck while trying to pump her fingers into her best friend. There's desperation in her voice, "I want you, Santana. I can't. I need you to want me too."

"No, Quinn! Please, no!" Santana grips Quinn's wrist tightly and pushes it down and out of her. At the same time she shoves Quinn backwards with her other hand. Both girls are breathing heavy with a look of pain and confusion on their faces. "WHAT THE FUCK?" Santana almost yells, her voice cracking as she tries to keep in a sob.

"I'm sorry," Quinn whimpers, her face falling into her hands. "I don't know why I did that, I'm so sorry!"

Santana has no words. She's shaken to the core. She's angry, upset, confused, shocked, but most of all her chest aches from the fact that Quinn did not stop when she asked her to. The fact that Quinn thought it was okay to do that without her consent. The fact that Quinn, the homophobe, just tried to fuck her.

"I need to go," Santana says as she does her pants back up. "I can't, I just… I need to go."

"No, Santana! Please! I'm sorry!" Quinn is quick to grab her wrist and pulls her back. "I'm so sorry. Please, please forgive me." Quinn buries her face into Santana's shoulder hard. She can feel the tears from her friend's eyes soaking through her thin t-shirt. Quinn is hugging her tightly but Santana's arms are slack and hanging loosely from her sides.

"Quinn…"

"San," Quinn cries.

"I need to go. Now. My taxi is here." She pulls the crying girl off her shoulder and holds her still. Her heart breaks for her. Quinn needed help but she has no idea how to help her, so the best thing she can think of is time. Time away from each other. "I need to go," she repeats and turns to walk away.

"I'm sorry." She hears Quinn say as she's walking away. "Are we still best friends?" Her voice is so small, so broken.

Santana stops in her tracks but she cannot get herself to turn and look for two reasons. She doesn't want to look at the girl that just tried to force herself onto her and at the same time she doesn't want to see the sadness in Quinn's eyes because that will only make Santana want to forgive her and she can't do that. Not right now. The only thing she manages to do is shrug, "I don't know. I need some time to… I can't right now."

She gets into her taxi but manages to make a quick stop at a convenience store to pick up a pack of smokes and a lighter before having the driver drop her off a block away from the dorm. As soon as she's out of the car, she lights one up and takes a long drag. She looks at the time. She still has 19 minutes so she walks slowly. Her head hurts, her eyes hurt, and she still has an uncomfortable feeling between her legs. During her walk, she thinks. _What the fuck happened?_ Quinn has always been such an amazing friend to her. She was always by her side. Through thick and thin. Through hard times and good times. The inside jokes, the sleepless nights talking and laughing. Crying on each other's shoulders when they needed each other. Quinn allowing Santana to stay over and giving her the bed as Quinn herself slept on the couch. _What the fuck happened?_

Her phone buzzes but she doesn't check it. She knows who it is.

"Hey."

A voice distracts her from her thoughts. The words spoken were not full of the usual vigour, it's quiet and wary; Santana looks up. The girl that usually puts a smile on her face can't manage that right now. "Hey," Santana responds weakly.

She sees Brittany look down at her left hand that still has her second cigarette between her index and middle finger. She follows Brittany's line of sight and also looks at the cigarette. She takes one last drag and puts it out on the side of the wall before stepping on it. Her phone buzzes again.

"What happened? What's wrong?" Brittany says cautiously stepping closer.

There is absolutely no way Santana can explain what happened so she just shakes her head. She doesn't know what to say or do. Santana doesn't know what she wants.

"May I?" Brittany's arms are slightly held out as if offering to hold her. Santana just nods and Brittany immediately steps forward, gently holding her in her arms. Santana leans against Brittany's chest.

After a few moments, when Santana's head has cleared a bit, she finally manages to say something. "What are you doing out here?"

"Well, umm, I had actually just come back and bumped into Rachel. I asked if you were back and when she said no I came back outside to wait for you in case you got locked out. I have the key."

Santana nods, still leaning against Brittany's chest. "You came back late too. I thought you said your sister had a party."

Brittany clears her throat and she can feel the taller girl shift uncomfortably, "She did, but Sam showed up at the house when I told him I was back and we talked. He told me he was ready to be friends with me again."

"That's good." She wants to be happy for Brittany, but she can't. She's mad at Quinn and jealous that Sam got to spend the day with her. It's been a pretty shitty day. Her phone buzzes, yet again.

"Hey," Brittany says, "Let's go inside okay? You can chill with me until you're ready to go back to your room."

Santana nods again and they walk back. Slowly separating, to Santana's dismay, the closer they get to the main entrance.

She spends close to an hour at Brittany's until she sees the other girl starting to fall asleep; forcing herself to stay away because she has a guest. She wasn't going to do that to Brittany so she tells her she's feeling better and that she'll see her tomorrow.

Once she back in her room, thankful that Rachel is sleeping quietly for the first time. She takes out her phone and braces herself for the onslaught of texts she knows Quinn has left her.

 ** _From Quinn: Santana, I'm sorry. I'm so so so sorry. I don't know what came over me and I promise you I will never do that again. Please forgive me. I can't lose you as my best friend or even just a friend. I don't deserve to be your best friend anymore._**

 ** _From Quinn: You're probably back at the dorm now. I know you will read my texts before you sleep and I just wanted to let you know that I understand if you never ever want to talk to me or see me ever again. I just want you to know that I love you, as a friend. As my best friend. I made a mistake. A huge mistake that I will not forgive myself for. Please forgive me._**

 ** _From Quinn: I know what I did was wrong, but you kissed me too. You kissed me back so you can't tell me you weren't feeling it too. I went too far, I know that, but you didn't stop the kissing or groping. You didn't even stop me from undoing your pants so I honestly don't believe I should take all the blame for this. You, Santana, kissed me back. Sigh. Whatever._**

Santana puts her phone down without responding. She knows whatever she says now, she will regret later. So she decides to wait it out and really think about her response. She turns her phone on silent before going to sleep.

\

Santana wakes up the next morning with Rachel shaking her profusely telling her that she's going to be late. Santana rushes to get up and ready without once looking at her phone.

The day passes and training was hard. She thinks Brittany went easy on them because of her, but because of her pounding headache, it was still a hard fucking lesson. She has no appetite for lunch so she goes for a walk with her pack of smokes knowing that it's Monday and Brittany has a lot of work to do.

At the end of the day, her shirt is drenched but she has no idea what she did. She tried to stay focus in class but Brittany had to speak strictly to her to get back to her spot multiple times. She was off count and her lines were sloppy. The one thing she noticed though, was that Breanne was extremely nice today. Too nice which means it was fake. She knows this type of nice because she's used this type of nice before back in high school. When someone like Breanne is as nice as she is right now to Brittany, there's something up her sleeve and it's not going to be good. She even noticed Brittany giving her skeptical looks but just goes about her teaching and not trying to make it obvious.

Santana gets out of her shower and plops herself onto her bed. She picks up her phone for the first time and has a text from her mom which she replies to right away and a long text from Quinn. She sighs as she opens the message.

 ** _From Quinn: I know you read my messages and now you're ignoring me. What the fuck, Santana? I've already apologized and I regret everything I did last night but we need to talk about it. I can't lose you even after all you put me though. After all I did for you, you can't forgive me for this? Who was there for you when you were so sick you couldn't walk? Who was there for you when your mom wanted to kick you out that one day after our grad dance? Who was there for you when you got dumped by whatshisname in 9_** ** _th_** ** _grade? Who drove you everywhere when you didn't have a car? I did! I was there for you and I can't believe you're willing to throw our friendship away just like that. Because I made a mistake. To be honest, I thought that's what you wanted, so I'm sorry that I tried to show you how much I cared for you. Because I do. I do care for you but obviously you don't care for me anymore. You're probably with your new best friend Brittany having the time of your life right now. For all I know you will probably stay here in LA so the 2 of you can be BFFs._**

The next text was time stamped to be five hours after the first one.

 ** _From Quinn: Found out one of my new law friend's sister dances too. I told her how my BEST FRIEND_** _ **is at a bootcamp. Apparently shes in the camp too. I just heard something very interesting. Txt me back and I'll tell u.**_

2 hours after that

 ** _From Quinn: Fine. Ignore me. But I just wanted to let you know your new bestie isn't any better than me._**

Santana's eyes widen at the last text and she sends her response right away.

 _To Quinn: I was almost late for class today so I didn't get a chance to check my phone. I have been away all day and just got back now. I need time to think about everything that had happened, Quinn. I'm sorry, but I need time to process. But I need to ask. What are you talking about? PS. Brittany isn't my best friend._

Santana goes to sleep knowing the ball is in Quinn's court now, but knowing her best friend, Quinn will milk it for all its worth and will now be the one ignoring her. At the moment, Santana couldn't give two fucks about Quinn ignoring her. What is really clawing at her heart is what she said about Brittany.

\

Santana is right. Quinn ignores her for the entire next day even after Santana sent another two messages her way. Quinn only posts on her Twitter and Facebook about how some people are deceiving or how you can be there for someone for all their lives but you fuck up once and then you're out or even a photo of a poor teddy bear with his heart gruesomely ripped out.

 _'Yup'_ , Santana thinks to herself, ' _that's Quinn.'_

She finally receives a text from the girl on Tuesday.

 ** _From Quinn: At the airport. Flying back to NY. Hope to see you there in a few weeks._**

Santana sighs and decides to respond for the sake of responding. She's sick and tired of playing this game of 'who ignores who the longest'.

 _To Quinn: You will._

She had told Brittany that she and Quinn had gotten in an argument ant that's why she was so upset. She told her that they had a weird history and that they sometimes got in fights but usually work them out with time. She doesn't go into too much detail, not wanting Brittany to feel uncomfortable. She's sitting on the couch facing the television and Brittany is heating up some left over pizza when there's a knock on the door. Brittany goes to answer it and Santana immediately recognizes the voice.

"Miss Pierce, I…" she looks in and makes eye contact with Santana. Rachel knows Santana and Brittany hang out a lot and is very supportive of it, but her eyes are sad and worried, "… I just heard something. I don't know if it's true or not but it's being spread throughout the dorm and its… it's about you and it's not good." Rachel steps in and her voice quiets down. Santana has hard time hearing but when she sees Brittany's face fall into her hands as she leans backwards against the wall she knows it's something dreadfully serious.

* * *

 **Quinn POV**

"She read it! She fucking read my message and is ignoring me!" Quinn rants out Monday morning in the car on her way to the Courthouse for a tour and a seminar. She had a really crappy day yesterday and when she woke up to zero text messages in her inbox her blood began to boil. She wasn't winning the fight as quickly as she wanted to. That new girl in Santana's life must have something to do with it.

Her friend, Claire, is driving them and has been listening to her rant all morning. Claire knows of Santana because Quinn talks about her more often than she thinks she does. She is always going on and on about her best friend and how they've been through so much together and how she was going to meet this best friend of hers on Sunday and she was dying to see her again. But now, she's on a rampage. Quinn had explained to Claire that there was a misunderstanding between the two of them after an almost perfect afternoon catching up with each other. She didn't explain what the misunderstanding was, only that Quinn had said something that she didn't think would offend the girl, but did.

"What is your best friend doing here anyway?" Claire asks. "You said she's here camping?"

Quinn shakes her head, "No, no. She's here doing a dance boot-camp. Her mother sent her here to figure her life out. She wasn't doing too well in college back home."

Claire's eyes widen, "Boot-camp? Which one?"

"I'm not sure the name of it but it's just 15 minutes from the hotel."

"I think I know which one you're talking about, my sister is an instructor there."

"Oh what? No way! Your sister is, Brittany?" Quinn asks looking at the girl carefully again. They do not look alike at all.

"What? No? My sister is Breanne. Well, she's the assistant instructor there."

Quinn nods and sighs in relief, "Thank God."

"What do you mean by that?" Claire asks.

"Well, you can tell your sister that her boss is stealing my best friend."

"What?! What are you talking about, Q? You just basically told me that you and Santana were soulmates. Except for your little argument."

"Well, yeah. I mean, the two of us grew up together and know pretty much everything about each other but this Brittany girl. I feel like she has something on Santana and I don't like it. I wish I could get her to see that this girl isn't good for her. I don't like the way she looks at her, she's like using her or like… I don't know… gay for her or something."

Claire laughs, "So, maybe she is."

"Fuck that shit, Santana is no dyke. Trust me, she would have told me if she was. She likes the _D_ too much be into chicks, you know? But this girl, this… instructor… she gives me weird vibes. I bet if I could prove to Santana that the girl is hitting on her, or at least prove that she's a bad influence she would probably keep her distance."

"Are you serious about this?" Claire glances over at Quinn before continuing through the slow crawling L.A. traffic.

Quinn bites her lip, glances over to Claire before she shrugs, "Yeah, kinda." Quinn sees Claire contemplate something. "What is it? What kind of scheme are you mustering up?" She asks the other girl when she continues to have that look on her face.

"Well, I didn't go to the same school as Breanne since we moved just as she was getting into high school, but I do remember her mentioning that she was teaching with someone a few years older but went to the same high school as her. It might just be the girl you're talking about. This Brittany chick."

"So?"

"So… I could ask her if she has any dirt on the girl. I mean, there's a chance the girl is squeaky clean, but if she's as into girls as you say she is, maybe my baby sis will have some info, you know? Maybe we can help you out. I like you, Quinn. You're cool and obviously your best friend is in some sort of trouble, so I want to help her too. I don't want your best friend to be sucked into the wrong crowd or something."

They get to the Courthouse and Claire texts Breanne. Telling her everything Quinn is asking for. She checks her phone during her first break and sees a message from her sister. She smiles and shows the text to Quinn.

"Breanne doesn't know if it's completely true, but apparently it was really big back in high school. We could get Breanne to tell that to Santana if you want."

Quinn reads the text and her eyes widen at the story she just read. Without much consideration she nods, "Yeah, tell her."

Claire fires a text back to her sister, giving her the go ahead.

\

At the end of the seminar, Quinn and Claire are out for dinner when Claire's phone buzzes. She picks it up and begins to read it.

"Oh… no…"

"What?" Quinn asks reaching into her bag for some money.

Claire shows the text to Quinn

 ** _From Bre: Well, I'm glad you reminded me about high school. Brittany is being a bitch lately and my friends and I have been getting in trouble for being late. Like wtf, right? I'm the assistant, I can do whatever the fuck I want. Anyway, I wasn't able to tell the Latina chick like you asked me to because 1. I don't really like her. 2. I don't talk to her. And 3. She wouldn't believe me anyway. BUT! I'll let my cronies handle it for me and trust me, the word will spread because they have fucking big mouths. They don't like Brittany either cuz she made us clean the mirrors. I'll figure a way to make the story easily spreadable… like Brittany's legs. HAHAHA! Give me until tomorrow night and I'll have the girl out of everyone's hair. I can't wait to see everyone lose respect for her. Then maybe I'll be the leader for a change. Anyway, gotta sleep now sis. Have fun learning about law and shit._**

Quinn swallows. This was only supposed to be between Breanne and Santana, not the whole dorm. She wonders momentarily if she just fucked something up. It's too late now. Besides, as long as the information gets to Santana, and she gets her best friend back, she doesn't care. Santana has been ignoring her texts anyway, so maybe this will trigger some sort of response. Brittany is a BAD influence.

"Whatever," Quinn says, "She probably deserves it. From what your sister says, she's a bitch anyway. Best to get her out of there before Santana gets into more trouble."

Claire just looks at her phone and nods.

\

Knowing she has a chance of splitting Santana apart from Brittany, Quinn sends Santana a text the next day to show her she still wants to be there for her and that she is the friend that's worthy enough to be called her best friend.

 _To BFF: At the airport. Flying back to NY. Hope to see you there in a few weeks._

She sighs in relief and a smile crosses her face when she receives a quick response.

 ** _From BFF: You will._**

* * *

Fuel my fire with your reviews and comments. Don't forget to be kind. I know you will hate me more after this chapter but... what's a story without a little drama.


	14. Taking a Stand

**Brittany POV**

"Miss Pierce, I… I just heard something. I don't know if it's true or not but it's being spread throughout the dorm and its… it's about you and it's not good." Rachel steps in and her voice quiets down, either because she doesn't want Santana to hear or because she doesn't want other people in the hallway hearing, it doesn't matter either way because when Rachel speaks again, Brittany crumbles as flash backs of high school come surging forward. "Miss Pierce, there is a rumor going around that…" Rachel clears her throat and looks incredibly uncomfortable, "… that you slept with the CEO of this company to get your job as instructor because that's how you graduated from high school, by sleeping with your teachers… All of them."

Brittany's breathing picks up quickly as her body breaks down. Her hand covers her face as she falls apart. Her body slumps backwards, luckily there's a wall there or she might have fallen back.

"What the fuck did you say to her?" Santana's voice is suddenly right next to her as she feels a hand gently stroke her arm. "Rachel fucking Berry, tell me right now what the fuck you just said!"

Rachel cautiously repeats the rumor and Brittany sobs into her hands as she hears it once again. Her legs give out as her body slides down the wall and onto the floor.

"Oh, God. Brittany," Santana says and she hugs the girl as best she can in the awkward position. "Rachel, I think you should go."

"But I…"

"Rachel, go. I need to talk to Britt… alone."

Rachel silently makes her way out and Brittany hears the click of the door, signaling the door has been shut. Brittany can't hold her strength any longer and crumbles into Santana's embrace, sobs wracking at her body.

"Shhhh… shhhh… It's okay, Britt. It's okay. Things will be okay. We will get this sorted out." Santana hold her tighter and rocks her gently and her chin lightly resting on the blonde head.

After a good long cry and a few hiccups, Brittany sniffs and says a few muffled words.

"What was that, Britt? I couldn't hear you."

Brittany clears her throat and detaches her mouth from Santana's chest but her head still buried there. "That never happened."

"And I believe you."

Brittany chokes on a cough and begins to hyperventilate.

"Shhh… deep breaths, Britt-Britt. Deep breaths." Santana breathes with her and when it finally slows down, Santana pulls her away by the shoulders so she can look at Brittany's face. "Hey," she says gently. Brittany's facing her but her eyes are still closed. "Hey…" she repeats. Finally, Brittany opens her eyes. They feel so dry and swollen. "I believe you." Brittany is looking at honest brown eyes and blinks a few times. "Really, I believe you didn't do any of that and I think its Breanne's fucked up way to get back at you for punishing her. She seems crazy enough to start some bullshit rumor like this just to cause unnecessary drama."

"She didn't make it up," Brittany says quietly.

"What do you mean?" Santana asks softly but has a hint of confusion in her voice.

"She didn't make it up. The rumor. It started in high school. I was never good at school. Like, I was actually failing most of my courses. I just couldn't focus you know? It was hard to concentrate on things that didn't interest me." Santana nods and waits for Brittany to continue. "My parents hired me tutors but many of them said I was too hard to teach." Brittany sighs, "My younger sister ended up sitting in on my tutor lessons and she found a way to teach me so I actually understood. I barely passed my courses and graduated with the minimum required GPA. But because I was a dancer and stuff and was kind of dumb and everyone knew I was failing up until the final exams, the fact that I passed was a miracle, and because it's high school, people will always make assumptions and the rumor was spread that I had slept with the teachers to pass. Male and female." Brittany sighs again and sniffs. "And people knew some tutors had given up on me since some of those tutors were in my grade and they… they hit on me and I declined, they told everyone I was too stupid to be taught and the only way I could pass would be to … you know… fuck the teachers… I was too embarrassed to tell people my baby sister tutored me and since I was out of school soon, I just let people say what they wanted and laughed it off as a joke. Most people didn't believe it, and my close friends tried to deny it, but you know high school… it's cool to hate on people you don't really know."

"Wow, Britt. That's pretty fucked, but you know what?"

Brittany shakes her head.

"You are so strong. So damn strong and we will get through this. If this is Breanne's doing, she will pay for it. I promise. You're not stupid, they're the ones that are stupid for not seeing how amazing you really are. Come on," Santana pulls her up, "Let's get you into bed. You're exhausted … Umm… are you hungry? We still have the pizza in the microwave."

Brittany shakes her head.

"Okay, let's get you washed up for bed."

Once Brittany is in bed and Santana is about to leave, Brittany stops her. "Can you stay?"

Santana looks at her curiously.

"I can pull out the couch for you but… I don't know, you just make me feel…" Brittany blushes at a loss of words.

"No, you don't have to do that. You're tired. I can see it in your eyes. I can do it." Santana leans over and brushes some of her blonde hair back. "Just get some rest, I'll stay here."

Brittany really wants to ask for Santana to get into bed with her, but that's just pushing it too far. She already feels guilty for having the girl sleep on the couch, but she physically needed Santana to be in close proximity to her or she will break down again.

\

The next morning, Brittany wakes up on her own accord. She reaches for her phone, assuming she woke up before it went off. Her eyes feel heavy and swollen and her throat feels dry. She manages to open one eye and checks the time. Both eyes shoot open as she jumps out of bed. It's 10:45AM – she overslept. "Santana!" she cries as she runs to the living room to wake her up but the girl is gone and the blanket on the couch is folded neatly and placed on the arm rest.

Her alarm is automatically set Monday through Saturday, so it's impossible that it didn't go off unless…

Brittany runs back to her bedroom and opens the clock app and taps on the _alarm_ icon. Someone turned it off. She quickly gets changed and fixes her hair, running towards the studio. The hallway is eerily empty and quiet. Probably because everyone is in the class she's supposed to be teaching.

"Brittany!" The male voice stops her.

"Dan!" She turns around, "I'm sorry, but I need to get to the studio, like, now."

Dan shakes his head and rounds his desk. "If you go in now, I think you'd just be interrupting the class." He looks at her carefully, "How are you feeling?"

"I … wha… how did… what? I'm fine."

"Mmm… I don't think so," he says, now completely blocking her way through the main doors. "I think, Miss Pierce, that your assistant can take care of your class for one day and you should go take care of yourself. Take an extra day off."

"No, I can't. I… I'm supposed to clear stuff up with group. Breanne doesn't read the lesson plan so I don't know if she's able to… I need to prepare them for the performance. Dan, can you please move?" Brittany is getting anxious and irritated, but Dan just shakes his head.

"Sorry, no can do." He grips Brittany by the shoulders and turns her around. "Breanne said she'll handle everything. Go on now. Grab something to eat, relax a little. Watch some TV if you must. You can teach tomorrow's class.

"But –"

"Go!" Dan gives her a light shove forward and she begins walking back to her room; looking back at Dan with his arms across his chest, not budging from his spot in front of the doors.

Brittany goes back into her room and immediately texts Santana.

 _To Santana: I know it was you who turned off my alarm. Why did you do it? How could you do this to me? Not only is the rumor going to spread, but now I'm definitely going to lose my job because I was a no-show to my own class. Now Dan is being mean to me too. Santana, I thought we were friends. I trusted you._

She sends the message and throws her phone onto the couch and runs herself a shower. This is the best place for her to think. She wants to figure out what to do with Breanne and the rumor but all that's coursing through her mind is why Santana would do this to her. She really thought they had something special. She was falling for her. Maybe she believed the rumors were true and didn't want to be with a slut like her, or worse. She believed her last night and realized what an idiot Brittany believed she was and decided she didn't want to be friends with someone so stupid. Brittany rests her head against the tiles and let the water rain over her until it starts to get cold. She dries herself off and changes into the shorts and t-shirt she was planning on wearing to the second portion of the class. Dan told her not to go back until tomorrow, but she'll be damned if she misses another class. She goes into the kitchen to find some food, but the only thing she finds is that she's not hungry.

There's a knock on the door.

Brittany assumes the worst. It's probably Breanne coming to laugh in her face, or someone is going to make a rude remark, or worse, her boss telling her to leave because she's fired.

She opens the door and Santana is standing there with her phone in her hand. She's met with soft eyes as they stare at each other. Brittany is confused, but it doesn't mean she's not mad. Santana tries to step in, and as much as Brittany doesn't want to let her, she does. She just wants an explanation.

Santana places her phone down, the text she sent half an hour ago face up on the screen. Santana takes a deep breath, "Do you trust me?"

Brittany narrows her eyes, "I did, but, why did you –"

"Do you still trust me?"

She wants to say no but her head nods for her.

"Okay, good." Santana takes a hesitant step closer and Brittany wants to take a step back, but her body won't let her. Damn her body for having a mind of its own. Santana wraps her arms around her, holding her tight and Brittany can't help but gently hug her back. "Then trust me when I tell you to skip out on class this afternoon."

"What?!" Brittany says too loud for the current situation and pulls away. "I can't, Santana. I have to –"

"But you trust me." Santana's eyes are hard but sincere.

"But… I mean… God, Santana. What is going on?"

"Look, Brittany. You're a good teacher. An amazing teacher! The whole group needs you. You have no idea how many people you've helped. But please, just trust me when I tell you to stay here for today. Come back tomorrow morning completely refreshed, and I promise you," She takes Brittany's pinky in hers, "I promise you, you will know exactly what is going on by tomorrow at 10AM."

They look at each other intently. The sincerity in the brown eyes are enough to make Brittany melt. She doesn't trust a lot of people, but she trusts Santana. She has no reason not to, and the connection between them feels so strong, so she nods cautiously. Santana smiles and hugs her again. Santana goes to the door with their pinky's still attached. She smiles once more at the taller girl then exits the room, leaving one very confused, very worried blonde.

* * *

 **Santana POV**

Santana enters the studio early. After having a short but very detailed conversation with Dan, he gives her the keys to open up. She really hopes Dan can keep his word and Brittany out of the studio. She doesn't need the girl to see or hear what's going on because most likely she will put a stop to it, and Santana can't have that. As guilty as she feels for turning Brittany's alarm off as soon as she fell asleep, she believes this is for the greater good and Brittany will understand the next day, she has to. Her heart is pounding as people begin coming in. She's nervous as people look around for Brittany. Asking each other where she is or if anyone has seen her. Rachel comes up to her and asks how Brittany is, Santana just shakes her head and clenches her jaw. "She needs to rest." Is all Santana says. Rachel can see it in her eyes that she doesn't want to talk anymore, so she just purses her lips and finds a space on the dance floor.

As soon as Breanne walks in, 5 minutes late with her usual posse behind her, Santana's not nervous anymore. In fact, she's furious. She knows who spread the rumors because she overheard some people talking and most of them mention either Breanne's name or one of her minions'. Breanne looks around, obviously for Brittany.

"Where's your teacher?"

"Busy banging her boss, no less," Krystal, one of Breanne's bitches comments quietly and the rest giggle. Very few of the others in class do the same, however.

Hearing those words, Santana steps forward. She's had enough.

"Well, if I were in Brittany's shoes I'd want to see how everyone would fair without me as well. So, what do you say, Miss Assistant Instructor? Please fill the shoes of the person you so eagerly want to tear down." Santana takes a step back and motions for Breanne to take the lead.

Breanne rolls her eyes and scoffs before taking her spot in front of the class. She begins the stretching and warm up but she doesn't set a good rhythm. Something is off and as Santana looks around the room, the others aren't enjoying it as much as they usually do either. Going into the choreography, Breanne forgets bits and pieces and the rest of the group need to remind her. A few people in the back begin acting out and the more Breanne tries to stop them, they just continue doing their own thing. Frustrated, Breanne kicks them out. It doesn't seem to faze them as they leave the studio. By the time the class ends, everybody is frustrated, confused, and the routine is messier than it was yesterday. People begin asking Breanne questions but she's unable to answer them as easily as Brittany. Eventually, she gets fed up. "Stop it! Everybody! Most of your questions are irrelevant or stupid. Save them for this afternoon and Brittany can answer them. Stupid questions are for stupid people." Breanne is about to leave but Santana stops her.

"You would like that, wouldn't you?" she says loud enough for everyone to hear. Most people quiet down and all eyes are now trained on Santana. "You're here riding on Brittany's coattail, doing nothing useful or productive. No one listens to you because you don't know what the hell you're talking about."

"What do you mean I don't know what I'm talking about?" Breanne seethes and turns to face her. "I was the North American Dance Champ –"

"Almost!" Santana cuts her off. "You were _almost_ the North American Dance Champion. ALMOST," which means you weren't. And sure, I'll give you credit, you're probably a good dancer, but you're a shitty assistant and an even shittier human being!" Santana looks around the room, "Who has heard the rumor going around about Miss Pierce?"

Everybody raises their hands. Some more nervous than others.

"Alright, now how many people know who's spreading the rumor?"

People hesitantly look around, but most eyes land on Breanne or some of her girls.

"So, you have two choices," she holds up two fingers while looking at Breanne. "One, you can resign right now and make up some lame-ass excuse to cover your pathetic sorry ass –"

"You can't make me –"

"TWO!" Santana says louder "I WILL get a petition signed by everyone in this place and get you removed and have it on your permanent record. Everyone who doesn't sign, well, let's just say you wouldn't want to be stuck here with me for the next few weeks if you refuse sign and defend the one person who has spent countless hours and even weekends trying her best to make this place enjoyable, memorable, and the best learning experience you have ever had. Its tough work for all of us, but it's clearly visible how amazing we all look as a team now, and you cannot deny the fact that there is no way in hell any of us could do this without Brittany. Even if the rumors were true, and I know for a fact they are not, how does it affect your learning?"

Breanne cuts in, "You need to stop –"

" – and you need to shut up!" Santana holds her hand up to her. "We were either all misfits or trouble makers at one time. Some of us couldn't walk a straight line before this. Some of us just wanted intensive training," she glances over to Rachel and she gets a nod and a smile in return. "But look at us now. Only a few weeks in and look at us!" There are nods and looks of determination all around. She turns back to Breanne, "So, which option do you choose?"

Breanne hesitates, scanning the room. All eyes are on her. Her own eyes go hard again as she looks at Santana. "You can't make me do shit!" she spits out and turns, making her way to the doors with Krystal following her. They stop at the door waiting for the rest of her gang to follow, but they don't. Half of them are looking at her with angry eyes the other half avoiding her gaze. "Fine!" She exits the door.

Santana sighs in relief and when she looks up she sees everyone else looking at her as if they are waiting for further instructions. "Umm, thanks for your support everybody. I think… we should give Brittany some times to rest today."

"Are you going to write up the petition?" Ash, one of Breanne's former follower asks shyly.

"I – um, don't you think Breanne will resign after all that?" Santana asks and Ash along with the other girls shake their head.

"No, I don't think so. She's very stubborn and even if she does resign, it won't hurt to have a backup."

Santana nods in understanding, "I'll write one up this afternoon –"

She gets cut off by Rachel, "and we can all meet up here tonight at 5 to sign the petition."

Santana looks at Rachel, thankful she has her full support. She looks back at the rest of the group and everyone nods as well.

"Well then, I guess, we can all take the rest of the day to think about how shitty we have all been towards Brittany, and maybe appreciate her more."

She gets more nods and a few murmurs of _yeah_.

As soon as she gets back to her room, Rachel takes out her laptop and begins typing out the petition, seemingly excited about getting Breanne fired. As soon as it's finished, they ask Dan to print it out and he's more than happy to. Dan has always liked Brittany she's always sweet and kind and he can see how much effort she puts into this camp and at the same time he's a little intimidated by Santana, so he was not going to say no to her, but it's not like he would have anyway.

After thanking him and Rachel for helping, Santana decides to go see how Brittany is doing.

\

Santana brings Brittany a ham and swiss sandwich and a Caesar salad for lunch. She knocks a couple of times on the door before a tired looking Brittany wearing sweat pants and a t-shirt sporting a messy bun opens the door.

"May I come in?" She asks and holds up the food in her hands.

Brittany steps aside and lets her walk through before closing the door quietly.

"What have you been up to?" she asks the blonde as they both settle at the eating table as she begins to take the food out of the bag.

"Absolutely nothing," Brittany replies. "I was thinking of gathering some paperwork and checking to see that I have everything ready for tomorrow's class, but who knows if I'll have a job tomorrow considering everything that is happening. If this gets to my boss, I'll definitely be fired. The man has a wife and kids for goodness sake.

"I don't think you will be fired, Brittany."

"How are you so sure?" Brittany asks as she pushes a crouton around.

"Because I am."

Brittany sighs, "Very convincing."

The girls hang out for a while, Santana forcing Brittany to eat the salad and half the sandwich. They watch TV in comfortable silence until ten to five and Santana stands to leave. Brittany notices and asks where she's going.

"I – um, I have to call my mom. I told her I would call her at 5."

"You can call her here, can't you?"

"I have to um – facetime with her because – uh – she misses my face and doing that here is just awkward."

"Okay, so, I guess I'll see you tomorrow in class?" Brittany asks and Santana can see dejection in her face, but she knows if she spends any more time with the girl she might spill the secret about everything that has been happening before the petition gets signed and sent, so she just nods.

"Yup! Bright and early! I'll be ready for a full day of learning!" she says enthusiastically.

Brittany smiles and shakes her head, "See you tomorrow, San."

"Have a good evening, Britt," She says as she makes her way down the hallway with Brittany trailing her. They lock eyes for a few long seconds before Santana leans in for a quick hug that she wishes could last forever before going back to her room, getting the petition from her bed and going to the studio.

To her amazement, everybody shows up. Well, everybody except Breanne and Krystal. Even the rest of Breanne's posse shows up to sign the petition. When asked about it, they admitted that they followed in the wrong footsteps. They should have been taking Brittany's lead instead of Breanne's and they apologized to everybody for being disruptive and said they actually enjoyed Brittany's teaching and just followed Breanne because they thought she was tough and cool. After a few intimidating words from Santana, they all signed the petition stating that they all agree that Breanne Moss is not fit to teach this boot-camp as her actions are disrespectful, inappropriate, and disruptive. It also states that they all believe that their head instructor, Brittany Pierce, can handle the class on her own without an assistant as this is what she has been doing this whole time, anyway. It mentions her acting immature while spreading rumors about other members of the group especially Brittany and they all believe that Breanne should be relieved from her position as assistant dance-coach as soon as possible.

She thanks everyone for coming and signing but as she exits the studio doors, a body comes up from beside her and before she knows it she hears a loud slap and feels a sharp pain to the side of the face. She's knocked over a couple steps before standing and looking at Breanne straight in the eyes; the anger pouring out of the other girl. A group forms behind Santana as Rachel tries to lunge for Breanne but is held back by the freakishly tall man. Santana has a stare down with Breanne but then a smile graces her face.

"Well, I guess it doesn't matter if you resign or not now. I'm going to send this to headquarters and see what they have to say about it." Santana says as confidently as she can while taking a deep breath and trying her best not to attack her with everybody watching. As soon as Santana takes a step forward, Breanne tries to grab the petition from her hands but two or three people stop her; pulling Breanne away and holding her down as Santana makes her way to the front desk where Dan has the fax machine ready and the number to the boot-camp headquarters inputted. She hands the signed paper to Dan and as she hears the machine whirl, she hopes to God she did the right thing.

* * *

Thanks for your reviews and comments, they really help keep me motivated. Thank you for continuing to love Brittana the way I do.

Will try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible, life has suddenly become insanely busy.


	15. Confessions

AN: Sorry Sorry. Life very much got in the way of my writing. No I didn't abandon the story. I never will.

* * *

 **Brittany POV**

Opening the door to the studio 10 minutes early, Brittany steps into the room and begins setting up her laptop at the corner like she usually does. A few minutes in, people start trickling through the doors; talking normally until they enter the studio and see her, then they become quiet. She tries not to think about it and goes back to testing her music. She peeks up when she hears a familiar voice and can't help the smile that creeps onto her face when she sees Santana walking in with Rachel. They make eye contact and Santana sends her a smile and a small wave followed by Rachel's much larger wave, but when Santana goes to set down her water bottle something catches Brittany's eye.

"What?" she mumbles to herself before squinting to make sure she's seeing clearly. She looks at the time and realizes she needs to start soon, so she swiftly makes her way over to Santana and looks carefully at her face. "Santana what – "

Santana's eyes widen as if she remembers something and interrupts her, "Britt, I think you should start class now. We can talk after okay?"

She looks around and some people are watching her closely, she swallows the words that are forming and instead says, "Later, you promise."

Santana nods.

Brittany begins class expecting Breanne to show up late again. She finds it odd that a few members of her crew are there, on time, and working a lot harder than they usually do. People are not acting out or chit-chatting as much, but the one thing that's really bugging Brittany is that reddish bruise on Santana's left cheek. Half way through, she notices Breanne and Krystal are both still missing. She checks her phone during her break but nothing from Breanne. She's going to have to call her after class.

Everything goes off without a hitch and Brittany is relieved that nothing has changed in the group's dynamic since the rumor was spread. In fact, everyone seems better behaved, and even more farfetched is that some people are actually smiling at Santana, which never happened in the weeks prior.

People begin to leave when Brittany dismisses them and as she's packing up her equipment, there's a knock at the door. Brittany looks up and Dan is standing there with a couple pieces of paper in his hand and friendly smile on his face.

"Dan! Please, come in," Brittany says.

Dan takes a step into the studio and Brittany doesn't miss the way Santana and Dan make eye contact and nod at each other. She doesn't have time to think about it too much because Dan hands her the papers. "I received this last night but I had some other things to take care of before I had time to give it to you. I'll be in my office if you need anything."

Brittany nods and thanks the man before reading the letter.

"What is it?" She hears Santana ask about 6 feet away.

Brittany continues to read but she can't seem to hide the smile that begins to grace her lips. "Breanne's been permanently terminated. She… there was a petition… a petition?" She looks up at Santana only to see the girl nervously playing with her fingers while looking at her in anticipation. She realizes they are the only two left in the room.

Brittany looks down and continues reading, "She was to leave immediately after receiving her letter and is forbidden to work at this company for at least 10 years. I can request a new assistant, or just go at it alone." She looks up and sees Santana still with that look on her face. Brittany flips to the next page and there is the copy of the petition. Signed by all the members of the boot-camp, well, almost all the members, and at the very top, in beautiful script writing, _Santana Lopez._

She looks at the petition again then up at Santana, then back down, then back up again. "Did you… did you do this?" Brittany asks.

Santana bites her bottom lip apprehensively and nods, "I couldn't stand her anymore, Brittany. The things she did and said to you. The uselessness that she was when she was actually here, everybody agrees, Britt. We had to get rid of her and I knew that if you knew about it, you'd stop me because… well, because that's how nice you are. You're so kind and caring, and hard-working but you're also very forgiving and you didn't deserve to be treated like that. She was mean and ungrateful, and a huge fucking bitch."

Brittany takes a gentle stop towards Santana, "Did she… did she do this to you?" she tilts her head to get a good look at the bruise on Santana's cheek. "Did she fucking hit you?"

Santana looks down at her feet then back up and nods, "I'm okay though, it's worth it if it gets her out of here. I'm sorry if that's not what you wanted, it's just. She treated you like shit, and I couldn't –"

Before she can register what she's doing, Brittany takes a couple more steps until she's directly in front of Santana. Her hand reaches out and gently caresses her cheek. "Does it hurt?" she says, not taking her eyes off the bits of swelling.

Santana shrugs, "Not so much, only a bit."

Brittany feels like the whole world is spinning around her but all she can see is this amazing woman standing before her. She knows it's inappropriate, she knows people can open the door at any time, but she can't help herself. She leans in and kisses her cheek as delicately as possible. She notices a hitch in Santana's breathing before it begins to speed up. When she pulls away slightly, Santana slowly turns her head so their lips are no more than a few centimeters away and Brittany can't take her eyes off of them. "You're amazing," Brittany whispers, "Thank you." It's as if time is frozen but the room is overheating. "I'm going to kiss you now."

Santana nods faintly but enough for Brittany to see before she closes the gap and their lips touch for the very first time and it's nothing Brittany has ever felt before. The kiss only lasts a few seconds, five at most but it was the most electrifying kiss she has ever had. It was soft and sweet, and full of everything she never knew existed. It was wonderful. It was… perfect.

When the kiss breaks they look at each other for a moment before a smile graces both their faces. Shy but excited, Santana is the first to clear her throat. "I – umm, that was – gosh, I…"

"Was that okay?" Brittany asks when Santana can't find her words.

Looking straight into her eyes, "More than," Santana says trying to hide her smile.

"Let's get out of here, want to grab some lunch?" Brittany asks trying to be cool about everything but her insides are as giddy as a kid with a lollipop.

Santana nods and the girls make their way out of the studio. Brittany locks up and drops off her laptop to her room before they hop into Brittany's car and drive to the deli they often go to. Brittany is tempted to hold Santana's hand while she's driving but decides maybe she should take it slow for now and that they probably need to have a conversation about the kiss considering neither of them have openly admitted liking each other or that either of them are actually attracted to women. Which Brittany knows, for a fact now that she definitely wants more from this friendship. She wants Santana Lopez to be her girlfriend and she's not ashamed to admit it.

\

"… then I kissed her," Brittany says to Sam on the phone that evening after the second lesson. Sam had called her the day before to check up on her after Brittany sent Sam a text telling him about the rumors. However, at the time, Brittany was no longer in the mood to talk about it as she became more and more worried about losing her job. She decided to call him this time to tell him that everything is fine; better than fine, actually.

" _You_ what?"

"I kissed her." Brittany can't help but smile as she says the words.

 _"Oh, wow, Brittany. That's… so, are you guys…"_

"I don't know. We didn't get a chance to talk about it after class today. We kind of left it the way it was during lunch then got too busy once class started again and then she got dragged out of the room by Rachel after class. I know I'll have to talk to her about it… I just… I really like her, Sam."

 _"Sounds like it."_

Brittany can hear the disappointment in Sam's voice. She needs her best friend to support her right now since she's going through a much bigger change than she ever expected. Her life has been changed completely and things are going to be different from now on, and she really needs Sam to be here for her. "Are you mad?" She asks quietly.

 _"No… no, I'm not mad, Britt. Surprised that you would be so brave, yes, but mad? No. You should be careful though."_

Brittany gets upset by this, "Why? Because she's a girl? Because of what people will say or do or think? Sam, I really like her and I don't care about all that. If I find out she wants to be with me the same way I want to be with her, I would like for you to be happy for me. I –"

Sam cuts her off, _"Brittany! I don't mean that. What I meant was you should be careful because she doesn't live here. She has to go back to New York once summer is over and I don't want you to get hurt over this."_

Brittany hasn't thought about that. She's been thinking about how Santana has made her feel. How happy she has been when she's with her. How comfortable and warm she makes her feel. She didn't even consider that she only has a few weeks left before distance splits up apart.

" _Britt_?"

"Huh? Oh yes, Sam. I know, I know. Her and I need to talk about this. I guess, whatever happens, if she wants this, we'll … we'll do something…we'll make something work."

She can feel Sam nodding on the other side. They talk for a while longer before they say goodbye. Sam is right. What if this is just a summer thing? What if she never sees Santana again after this? She can't let that happen. She needs to appreciate the time she has with her as long as she has it, so she texts her and asks her to come over.

\

"So, how are you?" Brittany starts when they sit quietly in front of the television.

"Good! I'm good. Good," Santana says overenthusiastically not making eye contact with her.

"Rachel dragged you out of class quickly."

Finally Santana looks over, "She did. She was excited to tell me the tall guy in class, Flynn or whatever asked her out. I honestly don't care, but since she was kind of really helpful the past few days, I thought I'd listen to her go on about it. Actually, I want to thank you. Your text gave me a reason to get out of there," she says with a smile.

Brittany smiles back and then swallows the dryness in her throat. She knows she needs to say something but she's so fucking scared. She's never had to do this before. Sure she's told guys she's liked them before, but the guys always liked her back. This was different. She has no idea how Santana even feels about women, if Santana is even the slightest bit gay. But Brittany knows that if she doesn't say anything now, she won't be able to sleep. So she goes for it. "So, this morning…"

Santana shyly makes eye contact and Brittany can almost see her blush. Santana nods for her to continue.

"How… like… what are your… Are you… I mean…" Brittany takes a deep breath. It's a lot harder than she thought. "Santana, I know we've never talked about sexuality before and well, before all of this, I didn't know there was actually anything to talk about but… all I know is that, I liked what we did this morning. It felt right and… I don't know how you feel about it, but I do, and I don't know if this will hurt our friendship or anything, and I really hope it doesn't and I hope I don't seem unprofessional or anything but… I think… Santana, I think I sort of, kind of, really like you," she rambles and then immediately throws herself into the side of the couch and buries her face in the pillow. She can't look. She can't bear to see Santana's reaction.

Everything goes quiet. Santana hasn't said anything, but she also hasn't got up to leave yet, so that's something. Brittany can't move. She said what she needed to say and now it's Santana's turn. She didn't realize she was holding her breath until she feels soft fingers caress her arm, right above the elbow.

"Britt, can you please sit up properly so we can talk about this?"

Brittany shakes her head. 'Talking about it' doesn't sound like a good thing. She won't be able to face Santana if what she has to say is negative. The caressing stops and Brittany feels her heart sink when she feels Santana shift away again. She feels her breathing stop once again. She listens carefully to any sound Santana may be making. She waits carefully and feels for any movement on the couch or if she left the room.

A few moments pass when she hears the wonderfully raspy voice speak quietly back to her, "I think I like you too."

Brittany instantly sits up and looks at the other girl sitting on the other side of the couch. "You do?" she asks as she bites down a smile.

Santana nods. "I'm a little bit confused about everything because I've never felt this way for a girl before, so it's all new for me."

Brittany chuckles a bit and shuffles to sit closer. "It's all new for me too. I mean, sure, I've found girls attractive before considering the industry I'm in, but this is completely different. It's… it feels more special."

The girls sit in silence while it all sinks in. Brittany doesn't quite know what she's feeling except she just feels happy. This is the happiest she's been for a long time.

Santana clears her throat and Brittany focuses her attention on her.

"So, what do we do now?"

Brittany's smile falters as she thinks of the next step; feeling a little nervous. "Well, I would like to officially take you out, preferably Sunday. If… you know… you're okay with that."

Brittany catches the smile that graces Santana's face as she nods and says, "I would like that."

For the rest of the evening they watch television and make small talk. They catch each other staring very often which generates a giggle from both girls. By the end of the night, they've keep a bit of distance as respect for each other and their new 'more-than-friendship'. When Santana leaves, Brittany gives her a quick peck on the cheek, which Santana returns, kissing her back right on the corner of her lips and the contact made her heart soar and flutter. They say goodnight as Santana walks down the hall back to her own room.

* * *

 **Santana POV**

She falls into bed with a huge smile on her face. She can't believe this is happening and her heart is going crazy. She's so happy. The thought of Brittany only brings a smile to her face. She can still feel her lips tingle from their last kiss. She wants to kiss her again. And again. And again. That night she goes to sleep hugging one of her pillows, imagining what it would be like if it were Brittany.

Days pass and Santana feels closer than ever with Brittany. They share smiles and glances during class and subtle touches that no one but Rachel catches on to; evidently forcing Santana to tell Rachel about everything that's happening or everything that Santana wants to happen. She even tells her about the date they have set up on Sunday. Santana still goes over to Brittany's in the evenings to hang out but they never went further than laying their head on the other's shoulder while watching television and a peck on the cheek before they part.

It's Sunday morning and Santana is excited for their date. Although, Rachel has made her more nervous than she should be, she can't wait to see what Brittany has in store for her. Brittany arrives right on time at 11am and she takes them out to a little pizza shop for lunch. Brittany buys them tickets to an afternoon matinee and they share a bag of popcorn and a soda that Santana refuses to let Brittany pay for. She then buys Brittany a bag of candies that they end up sharing as well. They take a walk on a nearby trail and end the night off cooking together in Brittany's room. They hand make some pasta that Brittany unfortunately overcooks because she's too caught up in telling Santana about her dance journey.

They're currently sitting on the couch not watching the television that's playing because they're busy talking. Santana has her head rested on Brittany's shoulder when no words are spoken and the girls just enjoy each other's company. The silence is broken when Brittany clears her throat.

"Santana, just out of curiosity, have you ever been attracted to other women? At all?"

Santana thinks for a moment and sits up to look at Brittany, "No. I mean, I've found some girls pretty, sure, but no. Just… just you," she says with a blushing smile but her smile fades when Brittany looks away biting her bottom lip.

"Not even Quinn?"

Santana scrunches her eyebrows, "No? Like, lots of guys think she's hot and stuff, but am I attracted to her? I don't think so." She shakes her head.

Brittany clears her throat once more and nods, "Have you like… ever kissed another girl?"

"Other than you?" Santana asks nervously, not wanting to lie.

"Yeah."

Santana takes a deep breath, "Yah."

"Was it Quinn?"

The silence is awkward and the tension is heavy. Santana sees what she thinks is jealousy painted across Brittany's face and she doesn't like it. Brittany has nothing to be jealous about. She has no feelings for Quinn. Not the same feelings she has for Brittany. Santana's silence must have made Brittany uncomfortable because she speaks up again.

"I saw you the night Quinn came over. Well, saw and heard you."

"What? Where? How? We didn't…"

"Outside, by the studio. I went to check if I locked up and I heard umm… noises. And when I looked it was you and her… doing… stuff."

Santana is trying really hard to remember the day while trying to get Brittany to make eye contact with her. Finally she remembers the way Quinn was acting that day and she immediately starts shaking her head. "No, Brittany. That wasn't… we weren't…" She takes a deep breath. "That didn't mean anything."

Brittany nods then shrugs and Santana doesn't think the girl believes her.

"Look, Britt. I'll tell you the truth, but you need to look at me."

Slowly, the blonde turns her head.

"Quinn and I… we were never in any relationship of any kind. We've always just been best friends but, sometimes, when both of us or if one of us need to get something out of our system, we kind of just go to each other. It's weird and stupid I know, and I have no idea how or when it started but that's it, we kiss and get it out of our system and then carry on. It honestly doesn't mean anything and for the record, it will stop once we…"she cuts herself off when she realized what she was about to say. "I won't be doing it anymore."

"Have you guys ever…" Brittany trails off.

"No! No… we've never, no," Santana responds. She's never touched Quinn that way and has never wanted to, and she does not count the times Quinn has tried. Speaking of this topic already makes Santana feel very uncomfortable. "Have you ever… with a women?"

Brittany snaps her eyes up at Santana, "I've drunkenly made out with women, yes. Have I ever had sex with them? No."

Now it's Santana's turn to clear her throat, she sits on her hands to stop herself from fidgeting. "Have you ever been turned on by looking at or kissing them?"

Brittany thinks for a moment, "Probably? Never really thought much of it though. You?"

Santana shakes her head, "No, I don't think so."

"What about me?" Brittany asks as they look into each other's eyes. Gazes drifting to each other's lips then back.

"Um, well, we've only ever did once, and it was really short, Britt, but I'm sure that… I mean," her heart is beating 100 mph and her throat is suddenly dry when she realizes how her body is acting to the anticipation to Brittany's question.

"Shall we test it?" Brittany doesn't even give Santana time to respond and instantly leans in to kiss her. The kiss is much deeper than the one they shared in the studio. Santana closes her eyes and allows her body to soak up everything that's happening. Brittany's sweet scent, the way her lips are soft and gentle, the way her hand is resting on her neck right under her ear. She feels Brittany scoot closer, but not interrupting the kiss. Brittany kisses with a bit more pressure forcing Santana to lean back and eventually is lying on the couch with Brittany on top of her. Keeping some distance, Santana notices that Brittany has not put her full weight onto her, only the pressure of her lips and the hands on her cheek. She must be holding her body weight up with her other hand. She feels their breaths becoming heavier and Santana lands one hand on Brittany's back, playing with her shirt between her fingers. Brittany sucks lightly on Santana's bottom lip before tilting her head slightly more to deepen the kiss. Finally, Brittany breaks the kiss and pulls away. Santana opens her eyes and sees Brittany trying to gauge her reaction and she can't help but smile.

"Wow," is all Santana can say.

"Was that…"

"Wow, that was…"

"Yeah?"

Santana assumes Brittany is asking if she's turned on, so she answers in all honesty, "Yeah." She notices Brittany licking her bottom lip so she copies her, trying to taste Brittany again. She feels an ache between her legs and she's trying so hard to ignore it. "I had a lot of fun today. Thank you for everything."

A smile graces Brittany's face and she nods, "Me too. I had a lot of fun too, do you think, maybe, we can go on a second date? Maybe Saturday after class?"

Santana doesn't even need to think about it before she starts nodding. "Actually, a group of people are having a party in their room that night. You know room 411 and 413 are conjoined?"

"I didn't, but okay." Brittany urges Santana to continue.

"Well, they're going to throw a party that day to celebrate a few birthdays. Rachel invited me to go, did you want to go?"

"I don't think they want the teacher there, Santana," Brittany chuckles. "But you can go if you like."

"No, I'm not huge on parties anyway. I'd much rather spend the evening with you."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive," Santana answers and bravely takes Brittany's hand in hers. "I want to spend as much time with you as I can," she says sadly, knowing she'll have to go back to New York in a few weeks.

"Me too," Brittany says quietly with a touch of sadness in her voice. "Me too," she repeats while caressing the back of Santana's hand with her own.

* * *

AN2: To answer some questions about the Damsel sequel... No, I haven't started writing it yet. I have ideas but I barely have time to write this one and I want to stay focused on it. Keep the alerts on Damsel tho, it will happen. I will make sure I post on the Damsel story when ch.1 of the sequel comes out. I just really hope i have the time to finish this one so I can start on that. Thanks for sticking with me. XOXO


	16. Living Arrangements

AN: So, are people still reading this? A little bit of fast forwarding before the girls get split up by distance.

* * *

 **Brittany POV**

Class is running smoothly after Breanne left. The company sent Brittany another assistant as an insurance in case Brittany suddenly couldn't make it to class, the assistant can take over even though Brittany was hesitant to accept it. His name is Mike and he is fantastic; the way an assistant should be. He's smart, organized, and incredibly talented. He is pretty quiet but incredibly professional.

Tomorrow is date night again. Everyone will be at the party but Brittany has plans to take Santana out bowling or maybe to an arcade and come back to watch a movie or something. Every time Brittany thinks about Santana she gets giddy and can't help but smile to herself. She was caught smiling in class and Mike had called her out on it. Santana overheard as they looked at each other and Brittany couldn't help but smile wider.

Brittany decides to give Santana a call to see if she's ready for their date. The phone rings four times before it's picked up.

"Hello?"

It doesn't sound like Santana. "Hello?" Brittany asks back.

"Miss Pierce, hi."

"Rachel?"

"Yes!"

"Where's Santana?"

"She's in the shower. She's been out for a while now, she should be back soon."

"Should I call back later? Or…" Suddenly, she hears a familiar voice on the other line, and it's not happy.

" _What the fuck are you doing on my phone, Berry?"_

" _It kept ringing and since I knew the person calling I thought it would be okay to tell them you were out."_ Brittany could hear Rachel explain.

 _"No! No, never ever pick up my phone again because what the hell. Who does that? Give me my phone!"_

Brittany can't help but chuckle.

"Hello?" Brittany hears the raspy voice of her soon to be girlfriend.

"Aw, be nice, San. Rachel didn't mean any harm."

"Hey, Britt. What's up?"

"Are you ready?"

"Yup! Meet you in the hall in 2 minutes?"

"Sure thing!"

Before she hangs up the phone she hears Rachel's voice one more time, " _Miss Pierce is Britt-Britt in your contacts now?"_

 _"SHUT UP!"_ – click.

Brittany giggles before putting her shoes and jacket on and heading out into the hallway where she sees others dressed up for the dorm party. Santana catches her eyes and she feels herself take in a deep breath. Her hair is still slightly wet, she has a bit of natural make up on and her v-neck t-shirt is fitted tight against her body. A bit of cleavage is peaking out and Brittany can't help but look. Her skinny jeans are showing off all her curves and now Brittany doesn't know if she's an ass or boobs girl. Santana has it all.

"Are you sure you don't want to go to the party? Seems like just about everyone is going," Brittany comments as they enter her car.

"I'm sure," Is all Santana says and grabs her hand that is resting on the median.

Brittany can't help but look down at their clasped hands and grips on tighter. They drive all the way to the bowling alley and only let go when they have to get out of the car. Brittany wins the bowling game. Brittany wins the game by a lot. In fact, Santana only didn't get a gutter ball twice, but they had fun nonetheless and Brittany knows this because Santana couldn't stop laughing throughout the game. Which was her excuse to why she did so poorly. They go out for dinner before going back to Brittany's for some TV time. They snuggle up together on the side of the couch. Brittany is leaning against the corner of the couch and Santana is in front of her leaning back against her and Brittany's one arm is wrapped around her waist.

They manage to get through half a TV movie before they're kissing. Softly and gently they're enjoying the taste of each other's lips. Suddenly, Santana's phone rings and reluctantly they pull away so she can reach over to retrieve it.

"It's Berry," Santana groans and puts the phone back down after turning off the ringer without answering it. She reattaches their lips. They kiss for another 10 seconds before they're interrupted again with the vibrations of Santana's phone.

"Fucking hell," Santana grunts.

"Just answer it," Brittany whispers in a raspy voice.

"This better be worth it," Santana says before pressing the answer button. "What do you want, berry? What? Okay, you need to speak more clearly," Santana listens intently for a moment, and then, "You fucking idiot. Fine. Just hold tight."

"What did she want?" Brittany asks and pecks at her lips once more time.

Santana sighs, "She's drunk and she locked herself out of the room. She has to pee and she can't remember what room the party was in and she doesn't want to go find it. I have to let her in."

Brittany looks at the time, "It's getting late anyway…" she doesn't want to finish the sentence because she really doesn't want Santana to leave.

"Yeah," is all that comes out of the girl's mouth. "See you tomorrow?"

"Wouldn't want anything else," Brittany replies with a smile. She can't get enough of this girl.

Brittany walks her to the door but not before a few more kisses. Santana's phone buzzes again, "Fucking hell, Rachel!"

They finally say their goodbyes and Brittany closes the door as Santana walks quickly down the hall.

She washes up and gets ready for bed. She changes into her oversized t-shirt and slips under her comforter. She's checking a few emails on her phone when there's a knock on the door. She's not sure if it's her door or the one next to hers. When she hears the knock again, she knows it's her so she gets up to answer it.

"Santana?" She sees the girl standing there with a massively pissed off look on her face. The look fades when she realizes that Brittany isn't wearing any pants. She clears her throat before she speaks.

"Sorry, Britt. Can I come in?"

Without saying a word, Brittany opens the door wider for Santana to enter. There is some silence as Santana paces the room. Brittany watches her go back and forth, waiting patiently for her to speak.

"Fucking, Berry and her fucking drinking. If you can't handle your alcohol, don't drink so much! Fucking disgusting is what she is." Santana looks up and Brittany raises an eyebrow at her, silently asking her for the full story. "So I let Berry in to pee and as I was just about to get changed and ready for bed she stumbles out and almost tips the fuck over so I catch her but I lose my balance and we both fall onto my bed. I try to drag her to her own bed, but before I can do that she throws up! All over my sheets! She fell asleep on the floor so she's going to stay there. Now, the room reeks and well, I'm never sleeping in that bed again."

Brittany realizes her face has scrunched up in disgust from Santana's story.

"So, I'm here because…" Santana suddenly looks shy and nervous.

Brittany smiles and walks towards her, "You can sleep here if you like. Really, whenever you want."

"Thanks, Britt," Santana leans for a hug and Brittany responds quickly and wraps her arms around her. "I'll just grab the extra pillow from your closet but can I borrow something to sleep in? I left in a hurry and I don't feel like going back into that room."

"Of course you can! Here, come with me." Surprising Santana, Brittany takes her by the hand and drags her into her bedroom where she opens her dresser full of t-shirts. "Take whatever you want. I have shorts in the drawer underneath, you don't have to sleep on the couch and I also have that extra toothbrush u used last time **.** Brittany bites her lip as she waits for Santana's reaction to what she said.

"Thanks, Britt, I – wait, if I don't sleep on the couch where am I going to sleep?"

Feeling slightly nervous, Brittany doesn't respond but quickly glances over at her bed. When she looks back at Santana her eyes are slightly wide and her mouth is almost shaped like a perfect circle. "You don't have to!" Brittany quickly jumps in. "I just thought that it's more comfortable than the couch and it's not like we haven't, you know, I don't know."

Santana chuckles, "Relax, Britt. It's okay, and yes, if you don't mind, I would love to share that space with you tonight."

Brittany knows she visibly relaxes in Santana's eyes.

\

A few days pass and Santana has slept over every night, still refusing to sleep in her own bed even though Dan has already changed out the sheets and even got a brand new mattress. Another reason she refuses to sleep in her own room is that she knows Fern or whatever his name is has been sleeping in their room ever since Santana started spending the night. Even though Rachel has promised that if Santana is in the room he won't be there, Santana doesn't trust that they never did anything on her new bed. To Brittany's delight, however, Santana has been moving her things over little by little. She really enjoys Santana's company and waking up with the girl next to her. The others in the dorm seemed have picked up on their close relationship, but no one has said anything and Brittany does try her best to act professional during class and even in the hallway and in the lunch room.

Sleeping together has been great. Brittany loves waking up next to raven hair and dark chocolate eyes. They haven't gone any further than heavy make out sessions and a bit of groping under the shirt but nothing more than that. Both of them still seem nervous about it.

It's Thursday morning and Brittany is exhausted. She stayed up all night fixing some choreography that she just couldn't get to flow. She was in the studio until 10 in the evening and by the time she got back to her room, organized her papers for the next day , and got ready for bed, it was passed 1am and Santana was already asleep. Brittany just tucked herself in behind Santana and with a kiss to her shoulder, Brittany fell asleep.

"Britt… Brittany."

She hears the voice but she's so comfortable she doesn't want to open her eyes. Her body is still exhausted and the fingers running through her hair are relaxing her so much.

"Brittany, baby, time to wake up, your alarm has gone off twice already."

At those words, Brittany's eyes snap open. The first thing she sees is her beautiful roommate wearing her dance clothes.

"I like that," Brittany mumbles with a smile.

"Like what?" Santana asks confused.

"I like your hand in my hair, I like waking up to you, and I like you calling me baby. Be my girlfriend, Santana." Brittany didn't even realize it slipped out but by the time it did she has no intention of taking it back. It's been too long, and she should have asked her days ago. There is a moment of silence and the girls are just looking at each other, Santana's fingers still in Brittany's hair. Brittany's alarm goes off again, and startles both girls. Santana is quick to take her fingers out to turn off the alarm. Brittany immediately misses the contact, but she knows it's for the best. They need to get going.

Santana sets the cellphone back down and turns towards the bedroom door, leaving Brittany in a state of rejection, until Santana turns around and replies with, "YES!" She runs out of the room, "Get ready, baby."

Brittany beams to herself as she celebrates internally. She can't remember the last time she has felt this happy. She quickly gets ready and even though she knows she will get to the studio later than usual she can't help but give Santana, her new girlfriend, a long deep kiss, before they walk down the hallway as professionals.

\

"I know, I know, Sam, but I really like her and I want to make it work," she pauses to let him speak. She understands his concerns for her but she just doesn't care. She wants this relationship with Santana to happen and she will do what she can to make it work. "I will! I will talk to her tonight. I know there's only 3 weeks left, but Sam, this has never happened to me before. I've never felt this connection with anyone before. It's something special."

She listens to Sam groan and complain about how bad this situation is going to be but the only thing she can tell him is that she is willing to give it a try because there is nothing more she wants at the moment.

\

That evening, after dinner, Brittany decides to get down to business.

"Santana, I think we have to talk."

Santana's eyes widen and a look of worry crosses her face, "About what, Britt? Are you breaking up with me already? That was a really mean trick. Like really mean. I actually really like you."

Brittany chuckles and takes Santana's hands in her own. "No, baby, no. I'm not breaking up with you, but I think we have to talk about our little living situation."

Santana still looks confused, "Living situation? You don't want me living here anymore?"

"Of course I want you living with me, silly. I meant…" she finds it hard to get the words out, "I meant in 3 weeks. When you go home," her voice is a lot softer than she wants it to be and she finds herself scratching at the corner of the table.

"Oh."

Brittany sees the exact moment it hits Santana, and the realization that this relationship is only going to be so easy for the next few weeks. "Yeah, what's going to happen? Are we going to do a long distance thing or are we going to…." She can't even say the words.

Santana seems to think about it quite deeply, "Brittany, I don't want to break up. I want to try. I want to be with you long distance if I have to. I still want to be your girlfriend."

Brittany can't help but smile, "Good, I want that too, but it's going to be hard, San. I was talking to Sam about it, and he was telling me how tough these things are."

Santana shakes her head, "I don't care what he says. I want this to work."

"Me too."

* * *

 **Santana POV**

Santana makes it a goal that today is going to be the day she calls home and catches up with everyone back in New York. She hasn't been the greatest daughter or friend lately. She will only respond with short texts or let every call go to voicemail. Not only has Brittany been incredibly hard on the class (herself not being an exception), but she's also trying to spend as much time with her girlfriend as possible. However, she does feel guilty for abandoning everything in New York so she is dedicating the afternoon to them.

First, she calls her mom. She's constantly being reminded that she needs to change and have a better attitude. She can't count the amount of times she rolls her eyes. She begins to zone out until her best friend is mentioned.

 _"Quinn tells me you don't contact her either. She has come over a few times and has brought cake and cookies as we sit and reminisce about the fun times the two of you had. She's scared Santana. She said she thinks you have a new best friend over there in L.A. and that you will forget about her. Now, you listen to me. Quinn is your best friend and has been there for you when you became a useless little punk, so don't you dare treat her this way. She told me that she knows the person you are befriending and believes she is of negative influence. Now, I sent you there to get better. I sent you there so you behave, and if you waste my money coming back worse than you were when you left then you will be paying me back with the money you make cleaning gutters, you hear?"_

Santana's blood begins to boil at the sound of that. What does Quinn think she's doing? What right does she have to say these things about Brittany when she doesn't even know her. She knows she needs to talk to Quinn about everything to make sure she doesn't speak negatively about Brittany again.

"Sure, Ma. I'll call Quinn as soon as I'm off the phone with you. I think her and I need to clear something up and for the record, I don't have a new best friend, everyone here is great, and I'm learning a lot."

 _"That's what I like to hear. Good girl. Now go give Quinn a call and explain to her why you haven't called her back in over a week."_

Santana rolls her eyes, she hates being called 'Good girl.' The way her mom says it makes it sound like she's talking to a dog, but she bites her tongue and responds respectively. "Yes, I'll do that right now."

Quickly, Santana calls Quinn as soon as she hangs up the phone with her mother.

 _"Santana, how nice of you to finally remember me."_

She sighs, "Hey Quinn. Sorry, I've been M.I.A. We only have a couple weeks left to go before the performance so things have been hectic. I just got off the phone with Mom," she pauses as she thinks about what to say, and decides to let Quinn bring up the topic. "Have you seen her lately?"

 _"Umm… Maybe once or twice? She invited me over for some snacks."_

"Talk about anything interesting?" Santana can feel the anger begin to grow inside of her.

 _"Not really. Only about how much we miss you. I miss you… I miss my best friend."_

Santana feels guilty again. She looks down at her lap and thinks about what to say. She debates on whether or not she should tell Quinn about Brittany, but decides against it as talking about it over the phone is probably not a good idea. She can tell her in person in a few weeks. "I'll be back soon and we can catch up about everything."

 _"I can't wait! I bet you have a lot to tell me. I want to hear all about the drama and everything,"_ Quinn says excitedly.

Santana pauses and thinks back to what she remembers telling Quinn. "Drama? What drama?

There's some silence on the other line and Santana is about to check to see if they're still connected when Quinn clears her throat and speaks.

 _"Just in general. You know, a bunch of misfits coming together, there has to be some drama right? Like, with your roommate perhaps?"_

"Don't even get me started on Rachel. I can't live with her anymore. I mean, she's fine when I see her twice a day, but that's all I can take right now."

Quinn chuckles, _"Well, that's too bad. You're kind of stuck with her for the rest of your time there so you might as well be nice to her."_

"Not so much, I'm unofficially not her roommate anymore."

 _"What do you mean? Where are you staying?"_

Santana regrets mentioning it as soon as Quinn questions her, she knows this will not end well, but she can't lie. The best she can do is not tell her the whole truth.

"I changed rooms. I have another roommate now."

 _"Oh yeah? Who?"_

Santana hesitates. She's never been good at lying to Quinn. She always calls her out on it. She can't even give her a present without spoiling it because she's just such a horrible liar. "Brittany."

The line goes silent.

"Quinn?"

Nothing.

"Quinn? Are you still there?"

 _"Yeah, San. I'm suddenly not feeling so well, I think I need to go."_

"Are you okay? What happened?" Santana knows Quinn can be dramatic at times, but she can't help but make sure her best friend is okay, because if she didn't, well, she wouldn't hear the end of it.

 _"I'm fine, but I think I need to go now. Talk to you later."_

Before Santana can say anything, she hears a click. Sighing, she puts her phone down.

\

Brittany has been stressing out because the performance is coming up soon, and even though Santana thinks everything is practically perfect, she can still sense the stress in her girlfriend's shoulders when they're snuggled up watching television one evening.

"Hey, let's go to bed. You need to rest. You've been so stressed out lately."

Brittany, ever so silently nods and they both get up off the couch and Santana leads her into the bedroom by the hand.

"Get some rest, baby. The performance will be fine. All of us have come so far in terms of dancing because of you."

Brittany nods, "I just want it to be perfect. I want to prove to the company that I can do this. That I'm a good teacher and choreographer. So many artists and studios come to these performances to see the skills of the dancers and the teachers. It just has to be flawless."

"I know, Britt," Santana moves a piece of hair away from Brittany's face. "And you are an amazing teacher and an amazing choreographer. Trust me. Everyone knows that. You need to stop stressing yourself out, we will make you proud, I promise."

Brittany smiles back and nods. Santana leans in for a soft kiss and Brittany returns it. The kisses deepen and Santana slips in some tongue as her body rolls on top of Brittany's. Brittany's hand goes under her shirt and scratches lightly on her back before making its way towards the front and begins massaging her breast. She tugs at her nipple and Santana can't help but let out a moan through the kiss. Her body involuntary begins to rock with the motion of their kisses. Santana feels a tugging and recognizes what Brittany is trying to do, so she sits up and removes her top. Showing off her perfect breasts to her girlfriend. Brittany sits up and instantly attaches her mouth to the other nipple and Santana hisses in pleasure grinding down against Brittany's thigh. This is as far as they've gone in the past, but Santana needs more this time. Quickly, Santana pulls up on Brittany's shirt and getting the hint, Brittany detaches her lips from her nipple to allow Santana to remove the garment. As soon as it's tossed off the bed, it's Santana's turn. She sucks on Brittany's neck for a few moments before making her way down to her breasts. Her hands are roaming as Brittany scratches at her scalp. Making her way down, Santana runs her fingers along Brittany's taunt abs before stopping at the boxers Brittany sleeps in. She feels Brittany swallow and as she looks up they make eye contact and Santana knows it's going to happen. Brittany nods and Santana slowly removes the boxers revealing Brittany's glistening center. Both their breathing are heavy and Santana can't help but lick her lips at the sight.

"Fuck," she whispers in arousal. She has never been so turned on in her life and she feels like if she doesn't start doing something, she will literally explode.

She attaches her lips to Brittany's once more and calms herself down slightly before sliding her fingers through Brittany's very wet folds. They both moan. "Oh, fuck!" Santana mumbles into Brittany's mouth. She runs her fingers through a few times before finding Brittany's clit and rubs it lightly.

Brittany moans loudly and spreads her legs wider, "Yes!" Brittany squeaks out.

Santana plays with her clit for a while before turning her attention from Brittany's neck to her ear, "May I?" she says as she slides her finger down towards Brittany's entrance. Brittany nods and Santana enters one finger, pumps a few times and then adds in a second.

Brittany moans loudly and squirms slightly under her. Santana has one leg straddling Brittany's thigh and she's so focused on pleasuring Brittany and familiarizing herself with every touch that makes Brittany's hips go wild that she doesn't notice Brittany reaching down. Santana bucks and almost falters forward when Brittany cups Santana over her panties. She knows how wet she is and she knows Brittany can feel it too. Brittany is doing her best to release some pressure building in Santana as well and she is grateful for it. She continues to pump her fingers in and out of her girlfriend that is now struggling to keep her legs steady. Santana knows her palm is bumping Brittany's little nub and she can see it in Brittany's face that she's going to be coming any minute. Santana continues rubbing herself on Brittany's hand and Brittany pushes up harder every so often as her body bucks up.

"San!" Brittany cries out and she removes her hand from Santana's crotch. Sure, Santana misses the touch but she's mesmerized by the way Brittany's eyes are clenched tightly and her one hand is now gripping onto Santana's bare back and the other one pulling on her own blonde hair. "San!" She screams again, completely out of control of her own body. "Oh God!" are her last words before her body tenses and she pulls Santana down hard against her own body. She grips her back so hard that she knows will leave marks for a good couple of days. Santana can feel Brittany's core throbbing and pulsing and squeezing against her own fingers before Brittany finally relaxes and her body collapses onto the bed. They kiss and Santana slowly removes her fingers and Brittany lets out a breath. Santana leans back but Brittany pulls her back down, kissing her. Santana moans again when Brittany begins rubbing her over her panties again. "Your turn," she mumbles and slides her fingers under her waistband and slides it through her very wet folds. "Take them off," Brittany breathes.

Santana doesn't detach their lips and slides down her very ruined panties before going back into the same position. Gently, Brittany flips them over and slides two fingers in slowly and Santana moans as she feels herself stretch out to accommodate Brittany's long fingers. It's been a while, but damn it feels so right. Brittany begins pumping her fingers and stroking at her clit with her thumb. Brittany is kissing all the right spots and it's Santana's turn to writhe. She feels like she should be embarrassed at how quickly her body is looking to release but she can't bring herself to care when Brittany is making her feel so fucking good. She comes hard while tugging on the blonde hair and gripping on Brittany's left forearm. Her orgasm lasts a lot longer than she remembers them ever lasting before and when her body finally decides that she can relax she can feel herself begin to black out. The two seconds she manage to open her eyes, she sees the blonde beauty in front of her taking a sample lick of her fingers then smacking her lips like it was the tastiest thing she has ever had while nodding her head.

Santana groans because she didn't think the night could get any hotter. Brittany must have heard it because she chuckles and leans down to peck her on the lips. Brittany reaches for the blanket and wraps them both in it before pecking Santana on the temple. That's the last thing Santana remembers before sleep takes over.

\

The following week is hectic and Santana doesn't see much of Brittany other than at rehearsal. Brittany is either busy on her computer finalizing the theater programs or giving some one-on-one attention to some stragglers who just can't seem to get it right. She's also doing some final music editing so even when they're in the room together, Brittany has headphones on. They hadn't had sex since the first time because Brittany is exhausted by the time she gets into bed. To be honest, Santana is just as exhausted. Brittany has been running their drills over and over again. Every inch needs to be perfect and if it's not, it's _from the top_ again.

Every morning for the last three days, Brittany would crawl into bed as Santana is either drifting off or already asleep and by the time Santana wakes up, Brittany is already on her laptop or dancing around the living room area working on the minor, minor details.

They finally get a chance to have dinner together two days before the performance.

"Do you think I should tell my mom?"

Santana looks up at her girlfriend. "Tell her what?" She takes a sip of her apple juice.

"About us."

Santana chokes. She wipes her mouth and nose. "Um, do you think we're ready for that?" She says nervously. Yes, she would love to tell the world that Brittany is hers but at the same time, she doesn't want anyone to hate her, she doesn't want anyone, especially Brittany's family to think that she turned her daughter into a lesbian.

Brittany shrugs, "I'd tell her eventually, right? And since she's coming to the performance, I figured I could tell her and introduce you. She'll love you, San! My dad too!" She says getting more excited by the minute.

Santana gulps and Brittany seemingly notices.

"If you're not comfortable with it, we can wait. I'm in no rush. I just… I'm excited to show you off," Brittany says with a huge smile.

"Let me think about it? Can I tell you tomorrow?"

"Of course, baby." Brittany rubs her fingers over the back of Santana's hand.

They finish dinner and are lying in bed. Brittany, drifts off first and Santana is left with her thoughts. Thoughts that she would love to be announced as Brittany Pierce's girlfriend but if that happens, people will know and people will talk and people will find out. Quinn will find out and for sure if Quinn finds out, her mother will find out and she's not ready for that yet. She looks at Brittany and instantly feels guilty.

"One day," she whispers. "One day we will tell the world."

* * *

Comments? Reviews? Keep me going!


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